|
Shatterpoint You shook your head slowly. You had entered far too many event horizons - met strange gods and come back from death too many times - to roll the dice again. Whatever was on the other side knew you too well - had predicted too many of your actions - to leap blindly once again. And with the Empress missing and Loki withdrawn, you didn’t feel like they would give you the benefit of a doubt. Instead … you would wait, and force their action. They were clearly waiting for something, even if you didn’t know what, and you had done all the preparations you could. Fleet alerted, Blackfinger focused, wards raised. Ghosts of code rose around you, waiting for … whatever it was. Memories, from long ago on Golgotha, came back to you. A clacking of knitting needles, and the uttered words, "I'll be waiting right here for when you're ready to chat." Yes. You had been responding to everything they had done, and they had been getting intel from your actions every stem of the way. Now it was time to wait, and see. You nodded to yourself. Your main trick had been impulsive and overwhelming force, and that was enough to shock most people out of their tempo. Open themselves up to the coup de grace. Here, though, someone wasn’t surprised by it. They had, by all appearances, read your book. You settled in to wait, began doing multivariable calculus in your head. It wasn’t knitting needles, but it was a good approximation for this binary world. Whatever it was would run out patience before you did, you were certain of it. You had waited years to find Fabiyan after Agatha’s World, and years again for your retinue to return from the dead. A few hours was child’s play. Time passed. . . . . . . . . . The figure, when she came, was perhaps not unexpected. Emerging from the event horizon, your face and build, but less worn. Younger, less experienced. And wings, a strange version of Fabiyan’s. Luminous and unearthly. She smiled faintly. “You know, I lost a bet because of you. I was sure you would jump in, all guns blazing.” 
|
#
¿
Sep 19, 2018 05:50
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 16, 2024 15:29 |
|
|
Knife in the Dark You looked her up and down, unimpressed. “And what failed fork of this bastard timeline are you?” She threw her head back and laughed. “Hah! You’ve grown. A few years back you wouldn’t say five words. Although …” Her eyes narrowed consideringly. “You’ve met other forks? That’s only been theoretical in our research…” You snorted. “I’ve been mobbed by the things. You most recent. Other people get to imagine they are unique, I simply know I am the best of my many options.” She tapped her lips thoughtfully. “Well …” Another pause. “Well. Forgive me, we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. I am Ohone of … well, let’s say Mars Hegemon. Science rules all, and as the Hegemon’s premier scientist, I rule the Hegemon.” “I find bullets make a more docile populace.” “Yes, I suppose you would. I was surprised to see you not open fire, actually. Most of our models suggested it.” “Violence is a useful tool, but not always the most effective.” The other Ohone snorted. “Yes, I know that, but our models didn’t think you did.” She held up a hand. “Not a criticism. Just a fact about knowing one’s tools capabilities.” You stared at her impassively. “You seem confused about your place in this relationship.” “Ah, yes. The fabled indomitable approach.” She shrugged. “As you like. You can be Ohone, and I will be … Oneoh.” A faint smile, like she knew a joke you didn’t. “I know how asserting dominance is important to you.” You ignored that, gestured towards the outside world. “Why all … this? If you had models and - apparently - been studying me, why set up another Beast?” “Wanted to see what you do. Important thing, testing one’s models.” You felt a frown twist your face. “That’s … wasteful.” “Hm?” She blinked in surprise. “If I had decided to commit my forces, you would have lost everything deployed.” “Oh.” Her eyes hooded. “I’m sure I would have.” “Like I said. Wasteful.”
|
|
#
¿
Sep 21, 2018 06:04
|
|
|
Interrogation through superior interior decoration. “So who do you think she’ll call in?” Fabiyan caught the ball midthrow. “You mean, if she doesn’t order an alpha strike?” “Yup.” “Me. You got to go last time.” Anna snorted. “Doesn’t count. We only approached the black hole, didn’t go in.” “Would you have?” She shrugged. “I mean. Probably. We’re off the beaten track. Off-script.” A sharp smile. “Improvising.” He tossed the ball again, caught it. “Which is why she’ll call me. You are unpredictable, and this is an unknown situation. I won’t, say, call in my daimon ex.” Anna chuckled. “You have a daimon ex?” “Sure, why not. I so enjoyed our time on Agatha’s World, I decided to find a playmate while trying to find Ohone.” “Oh!” Anna touched her heart. “I didn’t know you felt that way.” He sighed long-sufferingly. “I don’t have a daimon ex.” “I know that you idiot. This is what normal humans call banter. I swear, the Krieg ruined you.” Ohone’s sharp voice cut through the air. “Anna, I want you to come see this.” Anna smiled winsomely at Fabiyan. “Told you last time didn’t count.” “It doesn’t count if you use magic to see the future.” “I didn’t, I just know her.” She blew a kiss at him. “Be right back.” - Anna’s voice crackled in your ear. “Uhm … your head is in cyberspace, I’m not exactly equipped to go there.” “Oh, right.” You considered your counterpart narrowly. “Since you have managed to not get blown up yet, I would like to see you in person, and bring some of my staff. You clearly set all this up for a negotiation of some sort.” Oneoh nodded. “Yes, that is quite true. Perhaps the Bridge?” You snorted. “A ship you built and equipped? Absolutely not.” She gestured. “One of the moons nearby? You can pick.” A moment’s thought. “Anna, can you teleport us there and back?” “Just us? Sure.” You turned to Oneoh. “Fine. The third largest. Send one of your shuttles, I’ll meet you there.” Any preparations before we go to the shindig?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 2, 2018 20:53
|
|
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9TRMQwMNnY
|
|
#
¿
Oct 3, 2018 03:35
|
|
|
|
|
#
¿
Oct 4, 2018 01:34
|
|
|
I am occasionally inspired 
|
|
#
¿
Oct 4, 2018 01:47
|
|
|
Empty Streets Fabiyan met your eyes narrowly. “This is a bad idea.” “Oh yeah.” You nodded at the thought. “Me, Anna, and our third timeline self? Bad idea.” He blinked in surprise, seemingly having expected to you argue more. “Then why? Take me instead, or Centurion. Take us both.” You shook your head. “They know more about me than I know about them. I need to commit as little as possible, while getting more data. This is the best compromise.” Fabiyan considered it. “We’ll need to get you loaded up. You thinking the Eschatologist?” “Too big. Just the family armor, the storm cannons.” “Those won’t do much even against our conventional enemies.” You smiled humorlessly. “Yeah. I’m bringing the void rifles too.” “Anna will know about them.” “The two main ones, yes. The hidden one, no.” You nodded to yourself. “I’ve got this.” He frowned. “What’s your backup plan?” “When it all goes sideways? Anna teleports out.” “When Anna makes it goes sideways.” “Hera’s already promised an evac. If it looks like Anna’s gone off the deep end, Hera pulls me out.” “And if she can’t?” “They’ll contact you if anything goes wrong. You and Huron, the Fleet, can come in all guns blazing.” “I don’t like it. What if they get blocked?” You shook your head once more, with finality. “If Anna and Hera are both compromised, there was no chance anyway.” - <Shuttle heading for third moon, straight course. Teleport coordinates ready.> <Acknowledged.> There was the clap of displaced air. - Around you, a simple room, enough to hold a company of troops. Light was coming from nowhere in particular, and the surface of the walls was made of a metal you didn’t recognize. Empty, save for a single table. You looked about your warily, even as witchfyre danced along Anna’s hands. “What you think?” Anna’s eyes were distant. “This place … ah.” On the far side, a featureless door opened. Anna smiled wolfishly as she saw the scrawny figure, and he shuddered, almost quailed. His voice leaped into the air as soon as he saw you. “Lord-Sire! I am your servant. Oneoh asked me to enter first, to gauge your response.” He winced. “Please keep Anna under control, she’s imagining some quite … terrible things.”
|
|
#
¿
Oct 6, 2018 05:39
|
|
|
1 of 16666 Hit by a sudden flash of inspiration Your eyes narrowed as you took in the figure. He was badly burned, limbs oddly attached. Your mind searched, looking for someone who matched the description … ah. “Mister Travis. Acolyte. I repaired you with Hera’s machine.” His face seemed to brighten along the old scars. “Yes, Lord-Sire.” You played with thoughts of violence, but your heart wasn’t really in it. “Anna, dial it back.” She frowned at you, but shrugged. Travis’ whole posture relaxed. “Much appreciated. I have … had my fill of sorcerers and monsters this past year.” “With … this Oneoh? What is her Technocracy?” “Ah. That is a tale.” He strode forward, the old confidence you remembered filling his frame. Hadn’t he been one of your security chiefs at one point? The Battle of Terra had been a hectic thing, half the details lost and the rest far too memorable. Your thoughts skittered briefly to the final battle with the Plaguelord, and Travis nodded sympathetically. You made a mental note that you needed better defenses against mind-reading, and his face went politely blank. He gestured to you to sit first, and you declined. It was … unlikely … that the chairs were trapped after all this effort for a neutral meeting place, but better safe than sorry. He shrugged, took a seat. You took the other, and Anna stood behind you, watching him. She was smiling, with far too many teeth. “Well? Last I remembered, we sent you to keep an eye on Huron and his invasion of Janissary space.” “Yes, Lord-Sire. We started there, travelling through many systems. I have copies of the intelligence reports I sent…” A new voice rose from the hallway, sarcastic and cutting. “We’ll be here all night if you want her to read those.” Female, and young. You looked up, seeing a young woman unhesitatingly enter the room like she owned the place. Dressed in a mix of knives and leathers, some of it seemingly human. The faces were, anyway. “And you are …?” “Adelaide. I keep Travis alive long enough to send those boring papers no one reads.” You considered her. “I don’t remember you.” “I was on the Filthy Lucre when it fell to Mother.” “And you survived?” She showed her teeth in a not-smile. “I’m lucky that way.” You glanced at Anna, who was looking at Adelaide in half-disguised fascination. “Yes?” “... I like her.” You sighed. “Of course you would. Any weirdness? Love you virus, anything like that?” “No, she’s clear.” “Oh, good. It’d be one fine last joke to get this far and get hit by daemon memetics.” “Wouldn’t it though?” Anna chuckled. “She’s not particularly sane, by any metric, but she’s passably human.” “Passably?” “More than you or me, anyway.” You considered this. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.” “Best not to.” Anna agreed. Travis waited patiently through the banter, and Adelaide sat on the edge of the table, cheerfully ignoring the lack of chairs. “Right! So. We infiltrated Huron’s fleet.” “I had originally planned to lay low, perhaps one of the laborer crews …” “Right, he had a dumb idea.” Adelaide shook her head. “I stabbed like forty seven people, day one. Gotta establish yourself on these kinds of places.” Your lips almost quirked into a smile. “Where did you learn about these kind of places?” “Sarge taught me. Never mind that. I got right to stabbing, and we nested ourselves on one of the smaller ships. One more mundane pirate wouldn’t get noticed, but if we got in the big leagues - Nephilim, sorcerers. Bad idea.” “I see.” “Right. So, the fleet did its normal things. Raids and harvests on isolated worlds, which is all of them at this point. I don’t know if he was looking for something, or just taking advantage.” You considered it. “Did Huron seemed to be looking for something?” “No idea. Not like I was running fleet logistics. We just stopped at a lot of planets. They didn’t have any chance against a fleet this size. Honestly, only Terra or some of the sector capitals could, back before their fleets went to Golgotha. We’d blow up the orbitals, launch drop pods. Use local ships to bring the populace to the fleet, as many as could fit.” “How do you know all this?” She showed her teeth. “We had to fit in to keep our cover.” You looked at her coldly gleeful face. “I … see.” Travis cut in at this point. “I have limited assessments on fleet composition, army sizes, hoof to tail ratios, and so on. They are also in my reports, although they are limited in scope. Perhaps with the data from the Battle of Terra, we might be able to synthesize full capability …” You waved him off. “You’ve done well. First, to survive, and second, to get information. Remember, I’ve been running essentially blind, aside from what you have.” He nodded, perhaps a bit relieved. “Yes. - Knoxie rubbed his temples and groaned. “Another vision?” His eyes snapped open, looked over. Grimaced. “You.” Athena smiled. “Me.” “I’d call you a daemon but Fabiyan would have exorcised you. Why are you tormenting me?” The entity that was not in any way human crossed her legs, leaned back into a stretch. “Because you are one of the very few people who can see what I’m up to. A small portion, at least.” “Yes, watching you consider your options is one of my favorite past times.” His tone was bitter. “Just think, most people - even the elves - would kill for your capability. Most maenads, even if they see the future, can’t see me. But some quirk of yours … you can.” “And no one believes me.” “And no one believes you. About my aspects, anyway.” She smiled, sharp as razors. “The oldest Terrans called it Cassandra.” “I call it a curse.” “So did she.” He stared at her hostilely. She met his gaze, still smiling. “What are you doing at that stupid little world?” “Setting up the pieces. Finally, finally, they are coming together.” “They won’t fight.” Knoxie knew that in his bones. “No. They each had to grow enough, before I gathered them. I try not to waste such valuable resources.” He chuckled humorlessly. “Make another.” Athena considered him, weighed him. “I could.” “You could.” “But I won’t.” “Why?” “It’s … as much a matter of circumstance, as anything. They wouldn’t have the correct mix of experiences for what I need. The galaxy has changed since they started walking it, and any new versions couldn’t walk the same path.” He met her eyes. “And what path is that?” She smiled teasingly. “Can’t see that far?” “You know I can’t. A few minutes at most.” “Well.” Another smile. “We all have our parts to play.” - You tapped your fingers thoughtfully. “So, you have ballpark figures on their fleet capability and composition, and Adelaide has seen them deploy planetside. How do they handle?” He held out his hands. “Even an imbecile could win with the 100:1 odds he brought to the table … but even so, I felt that they were handled competently. I am not a fleet or army commander, but they seemed to take few losses and return with great wealth and human cargo.” You frowned, nodded. “Okay. I’ll pass the documents to my staff, see what they can make of it.” A faint smile. “I’m not a fleet commander either, by any means.” Adelaide sighed loudly. You both turned to look at her. “Yes?” “He’s talking about the boring stuff again. Tell her what happened next.” Travis looked sour. “You were there. I had to rely on your reports, which mostly consisted of screaming.” “And stabbing.” “And running.” She was one to frown, this time. “Yes.” She met your eyes now, seeming determined to speak some important truth. “We got hosed up.” You paused, blinked. “... Oh?” “Yeah. Same as a hundred planets before, fleet takes out the orbitals, land the troops. Except half way through the landing, an enemy fleet popped out of nowhere. Began swatting down our skirmishers like they were flies.” You looked at her interestedly. “Tell me more about this fleet.” She shrugged angrily. “I don’t know. I was in a drop ship, and had my own problems.” “Anti-air artillery?” “I wish. Angels.” “Angels?” “Yeah. Like Fabiyan, except hundreds of them.” You pursed your lips. “Maybe … some sort of human-mutant aberration. Or xeno hybrid. There aren’t that many Saints in the galaxy.” “That’s what I thought too, and then they started tearing about the dropships with their bare hands.” “... It’s welded steel.” “Yeah. That was about when the screaming started.” Travis interjected at this point. “She had managed to acquire a comm set during one of the invasions, and had kept it. Most of her reports were narrated stabbing, so the screaming wasn’t exactly new, but I hadn’t heard Huron’s troops doing it.” You tapped your fingers. “So … this angel matched speeds with you, tore open the hull … maybe a battlesuit of some kind? I think I could build something like that, with a bit of time.” Adelaide shrugged again. “I don’t know. I was busy leaving. Grabbed a Reaper engine - you know those? The jetpacks that sound like a banshee.” “Yeah.” “Grabbed one and jumped.” “Didn’t know you knew how to use one. The training is kind of specialized.” “I don’t. But it was that or stay and fight an angel that had already torn through dozens of soldiers.” “Fair. Got lucky?” “Yeah.” She showed her teeth. “Severe burns and several broken bones. I looked like Travis here, for a couple months.” “You seem to have recovered well.” It was true - you couldn’t see the faintest trace of burn injuries. “Can’t claim credit for that.” “Oh?” She looked into the distance briefly, shrugged. “You tell the next part.” Travis nodded. “So. All I heard from the comms was her screaming, and then silence. I didn’t know what was going on in the fleet - we are in the belly of one of the ships, and generations can pass without being aware the outside. You know.” “I do.” “Right. So it was just the comms silence. I was … somewhat worried, as I’d never heard her do that. Not even fighting Mother.” Adelaide smiled briefly. “You big softy.” “Shh. Anyway, couple hours later, we started receiving the shuttles back. Normal routine right? Except instead of victorious soldiers carrying cargo, it was a bedraggled mess of survivors who happened to seize the spaceport and get back into orbit. No one had any idea what was going on. “It was like that for a couple days. No explanation, and the first wave of returning soldiers turned out to be the only one. Adelaide was not among them.” “So what did it turn out to be?” You were fascinated despite yourself. “Did you not receive my intel reports?” “No.” “Hm.” He considered it. “I conveyed them to Inquisitor Athena.” A pause. “Did you now.” “I did.” “She and I will have words later.” “I imagine. However, I have copies of the data with me. I think you should hear it before I proceed.” quote:Travis Wrent Personal Report to Lordsire Ohone You sat back in your seat after hearing that, silent. - Sincera clacked her needles together angrily. “This is a mistake.” Skade chuckled. “Least it’s not us this time.” Sincera looked at her frostily. “That is not the point.” Skade held up her hands defensively. “Hey. All I’m saying is, we only came back once, and that was after a crazy powerful sorceress worked with a contender for the Dynasty to bring us back. Ohone has come back … lots of times. Eight?” Sincera clacked her needles again. “That was also a mistake.” “Ohone coming back? She could probably use the break, certainly.” “No, us. Because of your aforementioned ‘a crazy powerful sorceress worked with a contender for the Dynasty to bring us back.’” Her voice mimicked Skade’s weirdly well. “Well, sure. Anything sounds bad when you put it like that.” “You were the one who put it like that.” “I do have a way with words. A gift you might say. Even a talent.” Sincera stared at her. “Can you take anything seriously? You are supposed to be one of the Command staff, for Empress’ sake.” “That’s precisely my job, yup. Court Jester. I mock everything in Ohone’s life, even us. Keeps her grounded.” Sincera narrowed her eyes. “You just like to mock things, and are claiming justification for it afterwards.” “That too. Life - our lives, in particular - have just become completely absurd at this point. One can only laugh.” “Well, please focus. Ohone gallivanting once again into a likely trap is a mistake.” “She’ll survive. Even nukes haven’t stopped her.” Sincera met her gaze, “That’s my point.” “Eh?” Skade raised her eyebrows. “Worried about the boss surviving? That’s a new take for you.” “Because, she’ll survive. You know that. I know that. The entire galaxy knows that. So whoever set this up knows she can survive anything, and invited her in anyway. Which means they think they can influence her behavior in a way that benefits them.” Skade sat back thoughtfully, amused smile slipping from her face. “... Ah.” “Yes, good. You follow.” Skade nodded. “And it likely isn’t something that benefits Ohone or the Dynasty, because they would have just come out and said it. All this sleight of hand and trickery, its to keep Ohone off balance.” “As I said. It’s a mistake.” - You considered your words carefully. “Anna, what do you think?” She shrugged. “Visions of the future are … tricky things. But it feels true.” You grimaced. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too. Too many things lining up that I don’t like. What happened next Travis?” “It was a couple days before I heard anything. And then word came down that we were allies with the angels.” You blinked. “Just like that?” “I mean. I wasn’t at the high level council meeting where they agreed to it. But, couple days later, we were told to consider them as ally forces. Most factions in this navy have shot at each other at one point or another, so it’s not as big a deal as you might think. Huron keeps them in good order. Until he, well, doesn’t.” “Such a good system.” Your voice dripped acid. “I’m astonished they can coordinate at all.” “As opposed to the unadulterated terror you keep things in.” “Quite so. Now, tell me more about these allies.” “As I said in the message I sent, it turned out they were lead by … you. I thought it was actually you at first, although I had no idea why you had split from Huron only to join him again halfway across the galaxy.” “So where did this Oneoh come from? And what were the terms of their alliance?” “Well. Oneoh’s Technocracy turns out to control a hell of a lot of local space. We had happened to hit the fringes of them, and they called out for support that quickly. And got it, that quickly.” Your eyes narrowed. “Faster than light communication. Lot faster than Hegemon, for that matter.” “Yeah. Faster travel, too. They got the warning and responded in a matter of hours. No one in the Hegemon could do that, period.” “If a fleet got really lucky and arrived before they left maybe … but yeah. Not as a matter of consistency.” Travis nodded. “So, I’m thinking they got the STC on Golgotha. It wouldn’t make any sense for them to find a second one months after you did. Someone got to the STC, made a copy of you, and let ‘you’ run rampant. I have no speculation on who that might be, this Oneoh seems to be running her own program here.” Anna spoke. “She told us she was from a possible timeline, or implied it.” He shrugged. “I don’t know anything about that. I mean, Acheronic copies are possible, but I feel like slapping an STC and making a clone is a lot easier.” You considered this. “We’ll need to keep an eye out for their puppet master then.” A thought. “Could Huron have done this?” Travis shook his head. “Timing doesn’t match up, we never went to Golgotha, and why would he make a fake you? Why would he fight fake-you and then ally with fake-you?” “Good point. So what happened then?” “After we became allies, they began treating our wounded. Didn’t take them long. Recovery time nearly instantaneous, really, and better than anything I’ve seen. They even paid attention to the cosmetic side, no scars to be found.” “How wasteful.” You frowned. “Or … they have such resources they don’t consider it waste. Now, that’s a nasty thought. If that dream of yours was anything close to reality, we’ll really need to up our game.” “The thought has occured to me.” “So, we’ve got Huron’s fleet allied with this Oneoh, she’s apparently got resources for him to consider her equal … yeah. I don’t like this. And I don’t know what their goal is, either.” “I think that’s my cue.” 4620 of 18333
|
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2018 05:01
|
|
|
4620 of 18333 Templars of steel will burn You considered the figure, taller than you twice more. “Oneoh, I presume. In the flesh.” “Correct. Has young Travis brought you up to speed?” “Said you met Huron, and are allies. Hadn’t gone much further than that.” “Yes, his viewpoint is much closer to the ground than you or I.” “How did you find him?” She shrugged prettily. Most everything she did was pretty, actually. You narrowed your eyes, focused. A low level memetic field, fear and adoration. Cute. Yours was much more … brute force. You preferred terror and subjugation, simply for practical reasons. Dressing up like that was something you did for Fabiyan, not for the dregs. Oneoh smiled faintly as you saw through the facade, but continued. “He could hide well enough from the disarray of an Acheronic fleet - half of them are backstabbing each other anyway - but our statistical methods are far better.” “Like Edourd.” You probed the question, seeing what she knew. She paused. “I don’t believe I’ve ever met him. If you introduced us, perhaps.” You didn’t look at Anna. “He died.” “I’m sorry to hear that. I would have been interested to see his models.” So, either she was denying knowledge of him, or her vaunted models hadn’t mapped out your campaign staff. Something to examine later. “Anyway,” Travis continued. “She found us in quick order. Rather embarassing, to be honest. If Acheron had her methods, the Inqusition would have been strangled in the cradle.” He glanced at her. “I still want to see how you did it.” “You’d need about ten years of hypermath.” “I got time.” She chuckled like windchimes. “You see, Ohone? You inspire such devotion in your followers. Willing to spend a decade to plug a hole in the security.” “One tries. How do your own compare?” “Similar, similar.” She met your eyes. “We are alike in so many ways, after all.” You tapped the table impatiently. “I tire of these games. Are you a clone, an alternate timeline, what?” “I am … a what-if.” “Met a lot of those.” “I’m more solid than most of them.” “How so?” Oneoh spread her fingers. “From your description, they are from alternate timelines - a multitude of different decisions. Correct?” You considered withholding the information, decided she knew most of it already. “Yes.” “You and I are in the same universe, split by a single decision.” “Which is what?” “Golgotha.” You stared at her impassively, even as your mind raced to the only possible event that could have caused this. She nodded, continuing. “In your point of view, you left Olympus. Left Golgotha, went onto Terra. I stayed.” A brief laugh escaped you. “I got the better of you on that one.” She looked at you in genuine curiosity. “Oh?” “I got Fabiyan.” She seemed to look inward. “Oh. That obscure little Commissar.” She smiled again. “You can have him.” Your anger rose up at that, but you held it. “I intend to. So, you stayed aboard Olympus, and .. what, studied?” “Indeed I did.” Her eyes sparkled. “All the secrets of the universe, a full STC, and years to research. A fully operational guide who named me Prometheus. And how can I not be? I am bringing light back to this twilight galaxy.” You paused thoughtfully. Thought again. “Athena.” Oneoh looked about her. Nothing happened. You spoke again, more firmly. “Athena.” Oneoh shrugged. “Weird, isn’t it? She hasn’t been responding me lately either.” “I’m more annoyed by the fact that she set up a whole secret Oneoh and didn’t tell me.” “Yes, well. You can imagine my surprise when my codes suddenly announce the STC at Golgotha in a galaxy wide alert. Had to leave quite quickly at that.” “Where did you go?” “Archmage Angelika - you remember her, we hit her with a truck - she had extensive notes and communications with other Magi. I simply went to the nearest world.” “And invited yourself to the table?” She smiled faintly. “Blew up the moon, more so. They bent the knee then. From there, it was simply about building up the Technocracy. Making humanity what it used to be.” “You must have been quite surprised when Huron came knocking on your door.” She showed her teeth. “Yes, well. Not often one sees the second largest Acheron fleet on the border. Particularly when they were all supposed to be at Golgotha.” “Huron has always been of a different mind.” “Yes, he’s quite a sneaky fellow.” She smiled at you. “You must have been quite surprised when Huron came knocking on your door.” You pursued your lips. “I won that battle.” “And I won mine. Weirdly enough, we both subverted him into an ally.” “Guess he likes the blue skin.” Anna snorted. Both of you turned to look at her. “Yes?” “You two are cute is all.” Oneoh narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean by that?” “I mean, I’ve slept with him for like … a thousand years. But yes, he’s got a thing for you two.” You blinked. “He really does have a thing for us.” Anna stopped, grimaced. “Dammit.” Oneoh looked from you to her, quickly doing the math. “... Wait. You are one of the alt-timelines.” Anna held up her hands. “No.” “You are. I’ve just ran the math ten thousand times, and the only reason for Ohone to say that is because you are an alt.” “I’m not getting into this.” She looked at Anna pleadingly. “Please, we’ve only seen it in models. We’ve never gotten to talk to a divergence. Where did you make the change? What was their galaxy like?” “Useless and annoying, much like you.” Oneoh looked at you. “Get her to talk to me.” “Please, I’ve tried to kill her every time we’ve met. I can’t get her to do anything.” - Blackfinger frowned, his voice a low murmur. “Oh, I don’t like that.” Nothing else really needed to be said. The bridge staff watched silently as all the sensor ghosts suddenly resolved, surrounding them at light minute’s distance. An insane, uncountable number of ships. Sensors immediately began flagging thousands of them as survivors of the Battle of Terra, while others were too strange to even describe. “Right, that’s torn it. Prepare the fleet to jump to the next system. There is no way in gently caress I want to try to fight all the armadas of hell. Prepare for Ohone’s evac. Fabiyan, Centurion, get ready to kick in the door if she doesn’t show up. Someone over there knows exactly what we are doing each step of the way, and we need to stop dancing before they lead us over a cliff.” Quietly, the bridge went about following orders, the fleet spooling up their next hyperjump. And then: “Incoming transmission.” Blackfinger grunted. “Show me.” In front him, the smiling face of Huron. “Hello … Blackfinger, was it?” Blackfinger scowled. “What are you doing in the middle of this dump? No one to loot in a hundred light years.” “Waiting for you, as it happens.” “Yeah, I figured that, which is why I am leaving. We both know you can’t get to my fleet before I do.” “Certainly. Which is why I am turning off the sensor ghosts, to be polite.” Blackfinger snorted. “Outnumbering me a hundred to one, wants to be polite.” “Of course. We are allies, you recall? Ohone’s armies in her crusade against the Janissary.” “I remember you swearing to go kill Janissary, sure.” Blackfinger held out his arms. “None around here, are they?” “We are gathering allies. Your fleet, and ours, and the others Ohone are meeting now.” “The fake Oneoh? What do you have to do with her?” “Gathering allies.” Huron smiled that too elegant smile. “And she has every reason to battle the Janissary as you.” - Janus didn’t look away from the sensor readings. “Looks like … most of Huron’s fleet from Terra. And that new fleet, Oneoh.” Centurion was checking his weapons absently. Greatsword, oversized handgun, grenades. “Think we can defeat the fleet?” Janus considered it. “Huron’s, yes. It would be a bloody, bloody thing. Phyric at best. The new ones, we’ve never fought. No records of anyone who have fought them.” “So you think they’ll kick our rear end.” “If no one has survived who fought them, and they’ve built that size fleet…” “Yeah.” Janus considered the map a bit longer. “Good thing we won’t fight them.” Centurion looked up. “We leaving?” “No.” Janus pointed at the solid line of ships. “They aren’t approaching, and we can leave at any time. They are nominally friendly.” “As friendly as Acheron fleets can be.” “Yeah. So I don’t think this one ends in a fight.” Centurion chuckled. “I’ll keep preparing, if you don’t mind. Seen too many ‘nominally friendly’ armies get in a shooting war, even accidentally.” - “Where did you diverge? Did you meet Athena in your timeline?” Anna stared daggers at her. “Don’t you have high level negotiations to be doing?” Oneoh blinked, abashed. “Oh.” “Yes, oh.” Anna rubbed her temples. “How any of you survived to your twenties I’ll never know.” ”So you admit it!” Anna looked at you. “Yeah, I’m out of here. I can’t deal with two of you.” There was a pop of displaced air, and Anna vanished. Oneoh looked about the room. “She really leave?” “I hope not. She was my ride.” - Oneoh shrugged finally, her eyes regaining that glittery focus you recognized. “So, Huron has agreed to work with us to hit the Janissaries.” You held out your hands. “Why do you care about them?” She shrugged. “Various reasons. They are the largest power bloc near my regime. They are one of the biggest blocs left standing, and need to be removed for the Technocracy to survive. And, perhaps most importantly to you, they have some technology I want.” You raised your eyebrows. “Something not in your vast STC archive?” She ignored your sarcasm, or seemed to. “I can’t find it, anyway. I can only presume it was developed after the STCs were deployed. A small range Astronomicon, deep in Janissary space. It’s the only reason their sector hasn’t fallen the way all the others did.” “Again, why do you care about it? You have FTL that is a lot better.” “Much to my disappointment, I can’t build a fleet fast enough to replace what was lost in the Message. All those agricultural worlds, those hive worlds, severed from each other … the death toll is incalculable.” You shrugged. “Dregs will breed. Give them a generation or two.” Oneoh stared at you as if seeing you for the first time. “Literally incalculable. I can’t even guess it.” You snorted. “Look, Oneoh. Maybe this is your first time with realpolitik. You’ve got your neat toys which give you a hell of an edge, but it means you have never been tested. You are soft. The first and most important lesson is that Dregs are replaceable, and they do it with a quickness.” She was still staring at you, trying to see inside your head. “Every person has potential to be something great.” You laughed. “Now you sound like Amacita. I punched out her heart for being weak.” Oneoh stopped at that. “You … killed our childhood friend? For being weak?” “You remember her before Golgotha. Always doing something stupid. She kept doing it. She died.” In an undertone, Travis murmured something to Adelaide. Then they both began sneaking out of the large room. Oneoh grimaced. “Okay, let me see if I can explain it better. Trillions of potentially useful human resources died in your Message. People who could build us tanks and bombs.” You looked at her impassively. “A, everyone else lost them too. So we’re not down in points. B, you and I both have a tech advantage to take out anyone in the ruins. Might take a few centuries, but we’ll get there. And C, dregs will always be breeding. They. Are. Replaceable.” She put her forearms on the table, entwined her fingers. “And when you actually breed all these trillions of humans?” “Keep them dregs. Bare minimum to keep making weapons. Literacy for trusted members of the upper class.” “What’s the point of rebuilding the Hegemon if you are going to leave it like that?” “What’s the point of rebuilding if you are training your killers? Dregs rebel in half a second, given a chance.” “If you didn’t treat them so badly they wouldn’t rebel.” “Now you sound like a cultist of the Great Enemy. Which, fun fact, Amacita came pretty close to being.” Oneoh grimaced. “How many people are on the Beast who were there when I was?” You considered it. “Couple hundred? Couple thousand?” She couldn’t seem to find a response to that, tried again. “Because they are dregs?” “Because I was in a war.” You looked at her gear appraisingly. “Which, from the toys you have, you clearly have not been in.” “I’ve conquered a thousand worlds.” “Yeah. Blowing up orbitals isn’t a war. What’d you lose?” “Practically nothing. That’s how to win a war.” “That’s my point. In a real war, you lose things.” Oneoh smiled beautifically at you. “Maybe I’m just better at it.” You snorted. “Anyone could win with an STC. The real trick is winning when you are down on numbers and tech.” “The real trick is never being in that situation. Only someone profoundly stupid let’s themselves get caught in a fight like that.” “Which is easy to say when you are setting the deck.” You shook your head. “You really are just like Amacita. Terrifyingly dumb, and terrifyingly naive. Your empire will fall to dregs or the Enemy in a matter of years.” She smiled confidently at you. “Won’t happen. It’s already accounted for in the models. The education, the living stipends … they have no reason to rebel. And the Enemy is being broken down to a science, which we are using for the betterment of my people.” You grimaced again. “Yeah, I give you about five years. When you are overcome by madness and daemons and an army of psychotic dregs, it’ll be me with the machine guns mowing them down. And then I’ll keep them down so they never think about such heretical things for ten generations.” She sighed exasperatedly. “I can show you how things are improving. Hegemonic worlds in our domain have expanded life expectancy, reduced child mortality rates …” “Just give Fabiyan the maps of the cities for when we need to bomb them. It’s better to have more recent ones.” Oneoh threw up her hands. “Fine! In a couple years you are totally going to come in with a palty sub-tier ship and a couple mosquito boats, overthrow the largest and most advanced empire the galaxy has seen in fifteen thousand years, and oversee a reign of darkness lasting a thousand years.” You nodded. “I’m glad you are coming to see it my way.” “There is literally no chance of that ever happening.” You had to laugh. “Oneoh, while you were pretending to be a monarch, I’ve come back from the dead multiple times, fought Anna, fought Gorgon, fought Huron, been to the Golden Throne, and blown up Terra. You simply can’t comprehend the things I’ve done and the odds I fought at. Your Technocracy would just be another name on my list.” She smiled at you, eyes glittering. “You have no idea the scale at which we fight. My fleets could defeat the old Technocracy of Mars.” 7220 of 18333
|
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2018 06:47
|
|
|
7220 of 18333 Contemplate your fate on the tree of woe You spread out your arms mockingly. “Look at you, defeating the old Technocracy. But you still need my help, otherwise you wouldn’t have moved the galaxy’s largest fleet here. Billions of the dregs you care about, to a place in the middle of nowhere? No, you have more of a reason than just talking yourself up.” She bit back words with a snarl, took a calming breath. “Yes, I will admit you have … an idiosyncratic approach within the models. Your harebrained approach to life, as foolish and occasionally psychotic that it may be, offers certain assets to us.” You smiled at her. “Say it, then.” Oneoh ground her teeth. “We need you to fight the Janissary.” “That’s nice. I don’t need you.” She blinked in astonishment. “What?” “I don’t need you.” “But … you came all this way.” “Yup. Athena said there was some lostech here. Funny joke Athena, putting it all in Oneoh’s hands, by the way. Ha ha. But no, beyond that, I don’t need you.” “You don’t want to fight the Janissary?” “Eh.” You shrugged. “I can build something on the other side of the galaxy. They are your problem. They can’t even get to me.” Thoughts of possibly finding the Empress carefully did not cross your face. “But … you built this armada. Tiny as it is, it would be formidable against anyone else.” “True. Good habit to be in, always be building armadas.” Oneoh seemed quite blindsided. “But you aren’t at war and aren’t planning to be. The resources being divested are astounding.” “Dregs don’t need them. I do. And I don’t care about building another Astronomicon or whatever it is you are invading them for. If I have the monopoly on FTL, I win. Giving out that kind of technology is foolishness.” She paused, quite besides herself. “Do … do you want money?” Gotcha. “What would I do with money? Terra and Mars are both gone, no one cares about money.” “Technocracy money.” You snorted. “Paying me in your own currency? That I can only use in your territory? That’s useless.” “What would you want?” “Information. Everything you’d give to a ‘citizen’ of your empire. I expect that’s all sorts of useful things that shouldn’t be given to most aristocrats, but since you are giving it to Dregs I want it too.” She nodded. “Okay. Then you’ll fight with us?” “For Dreg knowledge? That doesn’t even pay for this conversation.” Oneoh seemed to sink down into her chair. “What else?” “A tour of your fleet. The ones you’d give to your officers. Capabilities, technologies, doctrine.” “I can’t give you that!” She looked horrified. You shrugged. “If we’re allies, I need to know that so I don’t crash into you. That’s how it works, right? You believe in your people and trust them and all that? So share it with your ally.” “And that’s it.” “No. I don’t even know what you need me for. I can’t give you a price on a mission without knowing what it is.” She frowned, pushed hair away from her face. “We’ve analyzed Janissary space for quite a while. Place is a fortress that has been fortifying for ten thousand years. Quite frankly, it’s a tough nut to crack even for us.” “Thought you could fight old Technocracy on an even footing?” “Not without tremendous loss of life.” “So what’s the problem?” She stared at you, spoke like she was speaking to a child. “I … don’t want to lose them.” “That softness is going to get you killed. Spend a few billion, take the systems.” “It will cost trillions of lives.” “Okay. Get on with it.” “There’s an easier way.” You chuckled. “Aha. This is where I come in.” “Yes.” “So … I risk my life, fleet and Dynasty, open the back door to the fortress? So you don’t have to spend those precious Dregs of yours?” “Yes.” She met your eyes. “You will be saving uncounted lives.” “I will be risking mine. The price is going to be ludicrously high.” Oneoh stared at you. “Your life is less than trillions of lives.” “Not to me. And ludicrous price is worth less to you than trillions of lives. It’s an easy decision to make.” She narrowed her eyes. “You are a monster, you know that right.” “I’m the Lord-Sire. I am here to protect my Dynasty, and you are here to pay me.” - Knoxie opened his eyes. Athena smiled at him. “Not so bad this time, was it.” He scowled. “They came within a thread of killing us all.” “Yes, well, they are both a bit tightly wound. That pride will get them every time.” “Then why did you put them in the same room? You could have lost everyone in your entire plan!” “Trust the plan, Knoxie. Pride is good, but they have other drives. Greed in one, charity in the other. It was inevitable.” If anything, his scowl worsened. “You and I both know it nearly wasn’t.” “Isn’t seeing the future fun?” - “Hey Blackfinger.” Blackfinger almost jumped out of his seat. “Dammit, witch, you aren’t even supposed to be able to do that.” Anna smiled and waggled her fingers. “Hi. Anyway, I wanted to let you know it’s all good. The two sisters have met, and haven’t killed each other. It’s all over but the quibbling on price.” He grunted. “In my experience, that’s the most likely time for a fight. What’s the price?” “Oneoh wants to go a-raidin with her. Jannissary space.” “How convenient we are in the area.” “I thought so. Ohone is working her over on the price. I feel like she’s never had to negotiate with a Rogue Trader before.” Blackfinger snorted. “We’ll own her entire kingdom by the time Ohone is done.” “Certainly seemed that way when I left. Anyway, you can tell Fabiyan to stop having an anxiety attack, we got past the hard part.” - “Centurion.” “Yes, Fabiyan?” “Anna says Ohone is okay, and we’re in the negotiating stages. Can stand down a bit.” “And you don’t think she’s telling the truth?” Fabiyan grimaced. “I can’t seem to forget fighting Anna across the universe while Ohone fell through time. Makes me a trifle concerned when she’s involved.” “Well. If it was a surprise attack on Anna, half the moon would have blown up by now.” “And if it was a surprise attack by Anna? Or, just trying to drop us to lower our guard?” Centurion smiled faintly. “Well, we don’t do that.” Fabiyan considered this, nodded. “That makes sense. Let me know if you hear anything.” “Of course.” - Janus looked at Centurion. “You know how this goes, right?” “Yeah. The moment I saw his face.” Janus sighed. “Well. We knew it was coming.” - Oneoh sighed. “I just have no idea what you want. You’ve already got an STC, you don’t want money, you don’t care about people.” “Right now, information. What kind of grand plan do you have for Janissary, and where do I fit?” She nodded, hands moving expressively. “Okay. My fleet is best equipped for hard targets. Sector capitals, things like that. The outer layer of the onion has a bunch of node systems that coordinate border defense. I’ll hit those head on.” “And spend all those Dreg lives.” She shook her head. “Frankly, I won’t lose much on those targets. This is just the outer layer of the onion, just the toughest part of it. It’s the later layers which could mess my fleet up.” “Okay. So you are hitting this sector capitals.” “Right. That’ll draw local fleets towards me, nice and orderly for shooting.” You began to get a picture. “And leave the other systems empty.” “Yeah. Huron will hit those. They’ll be mostly undefended, so the tech equivalence won’t matter.” “Mm...hmm. I’m guessing Huron helped you with this plan.” “He did, yes.” She met your eyes. “He’s one of our finest fleet captains.” “Oh, I’ve no doubt about that. I’m just seeing you using your fleets on the hard part, and him pillaging once the garrison leaves.” She didn’t blink. “We need resources to win the war.” “And you don’t care when it’s enemy dregs. Very neat and tidy, I like it.” “We’ll incorporate them into the Technocracy as quickly as possible, we’ve processed thousands of worlds.” “Mm. Not too many after an Acheron warband hits it I bet.” “No. All of those went to Terra or Golgotha.” You nodded. “Yeah, you are in for a treat. So, you hit the hard targets, Huron hits the soft targets, what is this secret mission for me?” She gestured again. “Right, so. The next layer of the onion - next couple layers really - have defense grids. Hundreds of light years across, I have no idea how they built them honestly.” “Ludicrous amounts of resources.” Oneoh shook her head. “The math is simply … staggering. They must have a technology we’re not seeing.” “The math is probably fine. Ten thousand year fortress? Yeah, it’s going to be in the trillions of lifetimes to build.” “There’s just no way that’s feasible.” You made a face. “Were we always this naive? Or do you just not remember where you came from?” She gestured. “Even Lord-Sire Di Musio cared enough to feed his people. And he was called the Butcher.” “Yeah, well, not everyone is as nice as he was.” Her face fell. “He died too then.” “Not a lot of other ways for me to be the next Lord-Sire.” “That’s unfortunate. I would have liked to talk with him again.” You shrugged. “Oh well. Tell me about the defense grids.” “They have operations centers tucked away. Maybe half a dozen.” “Maybe?” “We’ll have a better idea as we get closer.” “And why can’t your magnificent fleet hit them?” “We’re the distraction. Big scary fleet knocking on the front door. You are the knife at the ribs.” “Ah, there you go. Thinking tactically.” “Yes.” She smiled. “Huron liked that when I brought it up.” “Of course. His two most recent allies being sent into the most difficult parts while he gets his loot on. I’m sure it’s fine.” “Are you always this cynical?” “Why are you not?” She shook her head to clear it. “Look, we need to take out those operations centers to get to the next layer of the onion.” “Oh good, there’s more? Like what?” “We’ll need to get closer.” “This plan gets better and better. Why do I have to attack the operation centers?” “Well, you can’t hit the sector capitals. That’s suicide for you.” “I disagree, I bet I could take them and you can have the defense grid. Or, even better, I take the soft targets, and Huron takes the operations centers. He’s been raiding for a thousand years, he’d be good at it.” She raised her eyebrows at you. “Big risks get biggest rewards.” “Big risks get killed. I like small to medium amounts of risk and large rewards.” “That wouldn’t even make any sense. No one pays large rewards for small risk.” You tapped your nose. “That’s the secret of being a Lord-Sire. Finding those large reward/small risk deals.” 9100 of 18333
|
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2018 08:52
|
|
|
Bwhahaha, my series of long hiatuses killed the thread  Aww  9100 of 18333 Maternal Instinct Oneoh ran her hand through her hair. “Fine, I’ll talk to Huron and see if we need to reassess the strategy.” You nodded. “I should probably check back in as well. My team is probably getting ready to blow up the moon just in case, at this point.” She blinked at you. “The one we are on?” “Yup.” “But we’re on it.” “Yeah, they’ll bet I can survive and whoever I was talking to won’t.” She paused. “You have the strangest approach to tactics I’ve ever heard of.” “No one ever sees it coming, either.” She stared at you. “I wonder why.” “Genius is unappreciated, I suppose. Anna?” The pop of displaced air, and Anna appeared. “You ready to go?” “Yeah. Let’s head back to base, update command staff.” Anna looked at Oneoh, who was studying her with undisguised fascination. “We going to blow the place up?” “Not yet.” “Pity.” - “Okay, we’re back.” Blackfinger jumped again. “Dammit, I told you not to do that.” He looked narrowly at the bridge staff. “I thought we had all sorts of things to stop this kind of intrusion.” Anna smiled airily. “You do, but I’m the exception to most of them. Good thing too, otherwise how would Ohone get back here?” You gestured. “Okay, settle down. We’ve decided we’re not going to kill each other yet, so go down to alert status. I don’t know how long negotiations are going to take, so plan accordingly.” Blackfinger nodded. “And the comms?” “Minimal. I need to take a couple hours and vet them, but I should have them checked out soon.” “Understood.” He tapped the fleet communications. “Stand down to yellow alert. Reduce evasion maneuvers. Fleet admirals only authorized for communications.” Across the vastness of space, the frenzy of the fleet slowed down. Worn out crewmen went to bed, or found hot food. Others maintained a wary eye on the screens, waiting for further orders. The sensor ghosts were a solid wall of neutral ships, and no one wanted to be left holding the bag if they went hostile. You nodded to yourself. Having a professional to delegate to saved you some tremendous time, and he often caught things you didn’t. And now … “I want to have command staff meet me here. I don’t want you sending a holo into the meeting when we’re not sure how secure things are, and I don’t want you leaving your ship. So bring everyone in here.” Blackfinger nodded understandingly. “Who we bringing?” “Mm … Fabiyan, Limosa. Ching Shih, Anna, Sincera, Hera. Skade. You and Elenora, of course.” “Anyone else?” “If I think of one, I’ll write a note. That’s good for now.” “Works for me. I’ll have the meeting room set up.” He watched the screen. “Shuttles should be here in forty five minutes or so.” “Very good.” - The meeting room was in the gothic ostentatiousness that Blackfinger so loved. Over-elaborate carvings on the walls, pillars where they didn’t need to be, multiple platters of expensive and gaudy food. Chairs and lounges comfortable enough to die in. Tapestries of acts that were almost certainly banned on a thousand worlds. You looked about you. “This is a sex room isn’t it.” Blackfinger shrugged. “Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies. It was the fastest one I could prepare for guests.” You pursed your lips, sat … gingerly … on the edges of one of the couches. “Everyone else on their way?” “Just docked. Couple minutes maybe. Any impressions before we start?” “Frighteningly naive.” Blackfinger didn’t blink - instead, his eyes assumed the guise of a shark’s. Cold, empty. “Really.” “Yeah. I could pick her pockets and she’d thank me.” “How … interesting. Opportunity there, but someone else will probably have the same idea.” “Yeah. I think someone did, to be honest. She didn’t get this far on her own.” “Huron.” Blackfinger nodded. “That’s the way I’m betting.” “Mm.” He made a thoughtful noise. “Don’t like the idea of him with her fleet.” “Yeah. That’s why I wanted the command staff meeting. Wanted to get some ideas.” - “What do you think?” Oneoh glanced across the composite-metal table at her mother. “She’s … determined.” Camilla nodded. “She is.” “And … very cold. Selfish. Willing to do anything to profit, but very careful in the price she pays. Pragmatic.” “Do you think she’ll help us?” Oneoh shrugged. “I think so. That greed will get her. She didn’t go in all guns blazing, so she’s not a mad dog, but it’s definitely a tactic that has worked for her. With the right bait, I think we can get her where we need her to go.” Huron leaned on the table, his massive form dominating the space. “What did she want?” “Information, first. About the Technocracy, about the fleet. Open information, the things any citizen or officer would know.” He grunted sourly. “She’ll be able to do a lot with that.” Oneoh frowned. “We give it to everyone.” “Most people aren’t sneaky like her. She can do a lot more with it.” “She … didn’t strike me as sneaky. Greedy and aggressive, sure. Territorial, but not overly thoughtful.” “You don’t get as far as she has without being occasionally sneaky. The question is, how do we minimize what she can do with it.” Camilla looked at him. “You thinking of falsifying it?” “Maybe leaving some of it out. We’ll need to go through the ‘welcome aboard’ papers, see what needs to get sanitized. It would be foolhardy to just hand it to her unvetted.” She nodded, looked at Oneoh. “Is that all she wanted?” “She didn’t really name a price. Wanted to know what our plans were.” Huron grimaced. “Can’t really get around that, I suppose. You told her?” “Broad strokes. I hit sector capitals, you hit outliers. She hits the defense grid centers.” “How’d she take it?” “Said the price would be high, and that she’d prefer to hit the outliers. Wanted you to hit the defense grids.” He snorted. “Couldn’t you just see that. A fleet of Acheron, going headlong into a grid built to find and kill us. No, that’s not an option.” “We’ll need to work on bringing her around then.” - Sincera sat straight across from you, the others settling in. “Tell me everything.” “Athena - Loki - has been up to her tricks.” “What do you mean?” “When I left Golgotha, I was given the choice to stay aboard the Olympus. I obviously did not.” “Obviously.” “Except, I did.” Sincera narrowed her eyes, hands carefully wrapped around her cup of tea. “Explain.” “Athena made an exact copy of me. One stayed. One left.” She sat back, considering. “How did she seem to you?” “Naive. Startled at challenges.” “How do you mean?” “She believes in supporting dregs, in attacking Janissary space for that reason.” “Do you think that’s her core reason for doing so?” You considered it. “She said Janissary space was her main rival. But her motive appeared altruistic.” “Interesting. Do you remember acting like that when you were on Golgotha?” You flickered briefly back to those days. Processing pilgrims, ending a rival dynasty, tricking Devries with Amacita. “No.” “I don’t remember you doing that either. Speculatively, this may not be a perfect copy. Or it maybe someone pretending to be one.” You shook your head. “Very few people know the details of what happened on Golgotha. She knew them.” “Does anyone else?” You thought. “Athena, Anna, Skade and Delatorres.” Sincera’s eyes flickered over to Anna and Skade. “So, anyone who they might have told.” Anna held out her hands. “I had nothing to do with this one. I am not aware of Skade doing so.” You narrowed your eyes. “You are compelled to tell the truth, remember.” “I do.” Anna smiled faintly. “And that has been quite a change, I tell you. But no, to the best of my knowledge, Oneoh is an exact copy of you at that moment in time.” “Has Athena - Loki - ever done anything like this before?” Anna shook her head. “No.” You frowned. “I wonder if she’s changing it up. Do you think she can see the other attempts, the other times you’ve gone back?” Anna shrugged. “I … don’t know. I think if she did, she would have stopped me earlier than she did. I don’t know why she’s acting differently this time.” You pursed your lips. “Things are going different in general. First time you were captured, too.” “Yeah.” She smiled humorlessly. “Maybe this is the last time we do the circle.” “Maybe.” You looked at Hera. “Is this a common thing?” She glanced up from her violent attempts at knitting. “Time travel?” “Making copies of people.” “Not often. I mean, it’s a known technology, just without a real purpose.” “Why would Loki use it?” “Controlled test?” “What?” She gestured. “Mm … seeing how different situations affect things.” You blinked. “Why would she bother?” “No idea. It’s mostly been an academic thing, in the past.” “Hm.” - Huron frowned. “It’s a weird thing, you must admit.” Oneoh glanced over. “Hm?” “Why are there two of you? With Acheron, you occasionally have a past-meets-future kind of thing. Haven’t heard of this split/fork thing you got going though.” He laughed briefly. “I thought you were the same person for a good week.” “Well. I am clearly not her.” Her tone was clipped. Huron held up his hand. “I see that. I see that! But, it’s strange.” “The main divergence was on Golgotha. Athena made a copy of me, the one you met. Poor damaged thing. Meanwhile, I went on to perfect my training and build the Technocracy.” He weighed her words. “I still have yet to meet this Athena of yours. She sounds … interesting.” “Yes, she’s about somewhere. Does this a lot, always working on her own project.” “And you are one of her projects?” “I like to think of us as friends, or at least tutor and student. The vast fleets I’ve built, the civilization I’ve raised from the mud … primarily from her.” He considered it. “Then why did he copy you? Why make another version when the one who sits here is doing so well?” Oneoh smiled at him. “Isn’t that easy to see? I am the builder, and she is the destroyer. She pushes the old order aside, and I conjure the new.” “And what happens to the destroyer after that? She destroys your order as well?” “She won’t be needed, once the old empires have fallen.” “Ah. I see.” - Sincera spoke again. “Does she know about your motives?” “Breaking into Janissary space and trying to find the Empress? No, not that I’m aware of.” Anna coughed. “You did do that big speech about it. It’s not concealed information.” You frowned. “Yeah, good point. So depending on what she hacked in our comms, she might know.” Sincera nodded. “Do you think she was lying about her need for you then?” “She didn’t bring it up during negotiations. If it were me in that situation - well, if it were … you know what I mean. I would have used that as leverage to keep the price low. Preferably nothing.” “So she might be a poor negotiator.” “Possibly. Main takeaway is, we can’t assume she doesn’t know that we suspect the Empress is there.” You thought of something. “She emphasized going after the lesser Astronomicon a lot. That was one of the main abilities of who we thought was the Empress. So we might be hitting the same objective.” Fabiyan frowned. “So, at the end of all this, we might have a throw down at the capital of the Janissaries immediately after.” Blackfinger chuckled. “You know how it is. Work together to get into the vault, shoot each other once you get inside.” You nodded. “So we’ll need to be prepared to fight her fleet right at the end. We’ll need to do everything we can to even the odds before that happens.” 11,120 of 18,333
|
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2018 23:46
|
|
|
 Im trying to push another 3-5k tonite, we'll see. I think my writers block is for short posts, so Im changing it up with much bigger ones. Seems to be working so far.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2018 00:51
|
|
|
Yeah, the 3-4k word posts flow a looooot better. Im really happy with how they are coming out.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2018 00:58
|
|
|
dont be mean to me posted:I'm starting to lean toward rooting against the protagonist. She'd be the villian in almost any other fic
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2018 01:02
|
|
|
11,120 of 18,333 Everytime you close your eyes Elenora tapped her fingers. “Well, clearly the most important thing is writing up a subversion plan right now. We need information on her regime.” You nodded. “I’ve already gotten her to promise a cliff notes on everything. Maps, planets, tech, society. Everything a ‘citizen’ would know.” The word dripped with scorn. She raised her eyebrows. “She’s just giving that to you?” “Yeah. And everything a mid-tier officer would know. Claiming she’s going to, anyway.” Elenora shook her head. “If that’s the case, milk it for all its worth. This is like finding a new heir to an empire who doesn’t know anything. We can walk off with the keys before they notice.” “Sounds about right. Honestly, I’m just going to keep asking for things without committing until she gives a hard no. If she gives all this to her random dregs, than what would she be giving to her new ally and sister?” Chuckles all around. Blackfinger, in particular. Elenora continued. “So, that’s easy enough for now. Don’t commit, take their gifts and goodwill, map out the terrain. We can sketch some rough ideas right now, even if we don’t have the exact coordinates.” You sucked on your teeth. “What you thinking?” “First and foremost, we need to flip Huron. He’s clearly the brains of the operation, and if he’s out she’ll fall quick.” You raised your eyebrows. “Why would he trade an easily manipulated pawn, and her very nice empire, to us?” Anna smiled. “I might have a few ideas.” You looked at her, nodded. “Yeah, I can see that working. Okay. What else?” Sincera spoke. “Subvert the populace.” “Eh?” Skade nodded. “Definitely. It’s textbook.” Your eyes moved from one to the other. “What do you mean?” Skade continued. “Open society like the one you are describing, dignity of citizens, all that. It’s prime corruption territory. Usually it falls to the Great Enemy, but we can get in before that. Societies like that tend to think highly of themselves. We show the Dregs that the ruling class is just as scummy as they ever were, they’ll tear them apart.” You smiled faintly. “Weren’t you the ruling class? Family had estates on Terra, I recall.” “We had noblisse oblige.” Her voice was airy. “And we didn’t let the Dregs above their place. That’s just begging for trouble.” “Right, so. You thinking psychological operations? Blackmail, that kind of thing?” She shrugged. “Or we make something up. The Church is really good at information management. Distribution will be tricky, since we don’t have a close-up view to the target area, but we can make broadstrokes.” “Okay.” You considered. “Bet you their tech is vulnerable too.” Blackfinger raised his eyebrows. “Thought their tech was better.” You nodded. “Oh, sure. A lot of it is. But it’s the ice on top of the ocean. They can’t have had time to upgrade a thousand planets, they just have given a layer to the government apparatus. All the old tech, the Hegemon machines, that’s my bread and butter. We can subvert defense platforms, cause atrocities. That flows into your propaganda campaign, and from there the fractures solve themselves.” You shook your head. “In a sane world, the Inquisition stops this kind of society from forming for exactly these reasons.” 11,680 of 18,333
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2018 01:56
|
|
|
11,680 of 18,333 I’ll be watching you Oneoh tapped her lips thoughtfully. “Weird thing.” Camilla looked at her. “Oh?” “Ohone had a companion with her. Didn’t talk much. Went by Anna.” Huron and Camilla’s faces went carefully blank. Oneoh smiled triumphantly. “I knew it! You know something about her. Tell me everything.” They both blinked at each other. Camilla spoke first. “What do you know?” “She’s a major player in Acheron. Major player. Pivotal in me leaving the Hegemon, maybe one of the top five sorcerors in the galaxy.” Camilla nodded. “And she’s one of the old Lord-Sires of the Dynasty. Ran things for a number of years, couple thousand years back.” Huron blinked. “I didn’t know she was that old.” Oneoh stretched happily. “I know something you don’t know.” “What’s that?” “She’s an alt.” Huron twitched his eyebrows confusedly. “An alt?” “Like our models say.” “Oneoh, you know I don’t follow your models.” “Well, you should.” He made a face. “I lack the skill for hypermath.” “But you can calculate approach vectors in four dimensional space in your head.” “Well, yes. That’s just combat.” “Same thing.” “It really isn’t.” Camilla interjected. “Since you are so eager to tell us. What is an alt?” Oneoh stretched her fingers out. “Okay, multiple timelines. Multiple possibilities of what-if. Acheron is the easiest way to explore them, it’s the common way to see likely futures.” Both nodded. “Right, so. Anna is from one of those.” Huron stared at her. “How on earth would you know that.” “Ohone told me.” Camilla looked at her skeptically. “Just like that.” “She didn’t know what she was giving away. But it’s a true fact, I know it in my bones.” “Okay … so if that’s true, so what?” “It means we can affect other timelines. Roll dice the way we want.” She considered, nodded. “I bet you that’s how she got so powerful. It’d be easy if you know how things play out.” Huron leaned back. “She always knew how to say the right thing…” “Yeah. I’ll bet you anything she’s worked those conversations before. She subverted you intentionally.” “Well, of course.” He nodded. “No one goes through that effort without a reason.” Oneoh tapped the table. “But, consider this. Original hypothesis, Anna subverted you because you are a great catch. Major commander, great strategist. Fine. But I think she knew something of what’s coming, and felt you filled a need for that.” Camilla shook her head. “I think it’s a stretch.” She paused, considered her words. “You are stringing this all together on an off-hand comment from someone you just met, and trying to make it fit. It’s not something we can make predictions on.” Oneoh frowned, nodded. “Okay. I’ll run the math based on what we know. And I’m going to pick your brains quite a lot more, I’m annoyed you didn’t tell me about her as a possibility before this. But if her success seems beyond the normal variance - even beyond that of using Acheron to see the future - I think she’s an alt. And that means she’s got plans.” 12,226 of 18,666
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2018 02:12
|
|
|
 12,226 of 18,666 Out to get me You nodded to yourself. “So, thats the plan. Short term gain, long term subversion.Go ahead and let the other side know we are ready for negotiations. Mm … let’s bring Fabiyan, this time. And Anna, again.” She frowned. “Why me? I’ve already met the princess.” “Because I need a teleport in case things go squirrely.” “Take Hera.” “I need bait.” Anna’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not bait.” “No, you are just the cunning trinket that Oneoh is currently fascinated by. If you are with us, I put the odds of a backstab down by 90%.” She snorted. “You can raise it by 90%. I’m bringing one of those void-rifles. First annoying question, she’s vaporized.” “They don’t even vaporize targets. They undo them.” “Fine, undo her. When did you become such a pedant?” “When I found my creepy clone running a fancier empire than mine. Let’s go.” - Huron nodded to Oneoh. “They say are ready to come back to finish negotiations.” “Mm. They say who they were bringing?” “Anna, again.” “Good.” Oneoh smiled. “Maybe I can get her to open up a bit.” “And Fabiyan.” “The Commissar?” She blinked. “Oh, the Saint. I swear, the Empress will promote anyone these days. A watery-eyed desk jockey? And this is who Ohone married.” “Correct.” “Dynasty isn’t impressing me much with their decisions lately either. Alright, let’s get this show on the road.” - “What ship we taking?” You nodded at the docking bay. “Olympus. Already got Hera driving her.” “Good choice. Probably one of the few ships who could survive a backstab.” Anna turned her head to look back at you. “I’ve already strapped void rifles to the hull.” You blinked. “When did you find the time?” - “What is that awful music playing?” Hera frowned. “Elenora installed it when she was harvesting the colonies for you.” “Well, make it stop.” “I’m trying.” - “Technocracy ship in bound.” Oneoh looked interestedly at the screen. “Really?” Huron drew up the image. “Classic Technocracy, not one of ours.” “Aha … she got the Olympus.” Oneoh considered it. “I spent a lot of time studying on it, I wonder how she acquired it.” Huron shrugged. “My first guess is Athena. Her ship, I think you said it was.” “... Yes. I wonder why Athena gave it to her, and not to me.” Her eyes followed the ship, questions written across them. - You considered the fleet map. “They just highlighting the flagship for us?” Hera nodded. “Wouldn’t make much sense to have a meet-up if they didn’t give us the address.” “Still. Seems weird, I wouldn’t want to give out the location of my headquarters like that. Makes me thinks of nice things like fusion bombs and teleportation.” Hera gestured. “Well, they know where we are. No fusion bombs.” “They know we’d survive it.” “Maybe they think they’d survive whatever we can throw at them.” You frowned. “That’s just rude. A little bit of paranoia is just polite, this is like showing up to a meeting with no guards. Disrespectful.” Anna nodded. “I have to agree, we should be fusion bombing them know that we know where they are.” “Anna, shh. You just don’t want to be asked lots of probing questions.” “I don’t want to be asked lots of probing questions again. Already answered all of them from you once before.” “Good, because I don’t want you to answer them. Want to keep her in the dark as much possible, learn as much as we can, and get away with as much as we can.” Fabiyan was watching the screen. “drat, but she’s a big one.” Hera could only nod.  12,851 of 18,666. If you have any requests during the negotiations, now’s the time Loel fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Nov 12, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2018 03:40
|
|
|
|
|
#
¿
Nov 13, 2018 07:39
|
|
|
Edit: oh crap, page 750. FLASHBACK POST Arc 1 page 25: you had just met the gang leaders in the Deeps Arc 2 page 50: quint and tanya had just been introduced page 75: meeting kozilek for the first time page 100: knitting circle with sincera page 125: the olympus Arc 3 page 150: amacita’s wedding planning page 175: talking to dwarf about factions page 200: talking with eldar page 225: fusion bomb incident page 250: saving limosa page 275: deathskull orks Vacation Arc page 300: tugboat page 325: talking with cryonic lady page 350: the manor on agatha’s world Arc 5 page 375: meeting the motherfucking emperor page 400: titan. 16,000 posts, we’re a real thread! page 425: mars, space grandpa page 450: luna and amacita page 475: pilgrimage and shrine-cities page 500: high lords page 525: FABIYAN. and anna page 550: marsfed citizenship! Page 575: huron and the button Interregnum Arc Page 600: interregnum. day one Page 625: sebekh’s time travel episode Page 650: blowing up the earth Page 675: conspiring at Titan page 700: introducing omega to loki Page 725: anna’s coup Page 750: oneoh’s introduction Page 775: aboard oneoh’s flagship Loel fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Nov 13, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Nov 13, 2018 20:22
|
|
|
Man, it took forever to find the right music. Todays music is Iron Maiden. 12,851 of 25,000. Number of the Beast The ship before you was huge, monstrous. Easily the size of a small moon, your eyes slid off the edges of it, trying to take it all in. You yourself had orbitals in your fleet - Luna and Titan - but those had been carved out of the living rock. This monstrosity appeared to be cast in iron out of nothing, designed from the very beginning with one purpose. Hundreds - thousands - of ships were flying around it like so many flies, even as your sensors noted that they were the size of the original Beast. At this range you couldn’t identify individual shuttles or fighters, but you were sure they numbered in the tens of thousands. Even worse, the sensors were repeating similar readings across the sky. None so big as this moon, perhaps, but many that were of similar kind, all with the hungering swarms about them. Given the methods you knew of Mars, it would take decades, even centuries to build anything close to this, and your industry had far outstripped the old Hegemon. You had the uneasy feeling of seeing someone else the way others saw you. Your voice was a murmur. “Hera, can we get any information on capabilities? Weapon systems, fleet speed, things like that.” She nodded soberly. “This is Mars Federation tech, absolutely. Some of it the older style, before they knew what they were doing, but some of it has the lessons of the Last War. Biggest thing to note is the temporal weapons.” You pursed your lips. “That … does not sound encouraging.” “Yeah. Remember when I said Minds could jump back in time a few seconds, dodge attacks? Same principle.” “What would I be seeing here?” “Picture torpedoes that impact you before you’ve done your missile intercepts. You thought you fired them, but surprise the torpedo hit you before you reached for the control. And, extra fun, they now know your defense patterns.” “Definitely not encouraging. How far back can they go?” She shrugged. “I mean … the math is easy enough. And a temporal engine on a warhead going back a few seconds, that’s not too bad. It’s diminishing returns though, after a while you need a cruiser sized engine to flip sixty seconds. That could be impact before you even call the red alert.” You considered the size of the moon before you. “So it might have those.” “I’m not seeing any energies that suggest that scale, but it’s possible. They might have them in cold storage, the way Navy ships due with warheads between battles.” “Did these kind of things get used in the Last War?” “We had hard strictures not to go back more than, mm, two minutes. Athena had the unlock key for those, and she went missing, or Loki took her place, or … whatever.” She grimaced. “If Loki has the keys now, and has been helping this Oneoh and not you, you’re in for some trouble.” You considered the real Athena, waiting patiently in dead Hades, and said nothing. You continued as if the thought had never occured to you. “Could Loki build those temporal weapons without those keys?” “I … I’m not sure. Depends on how hard and well the old Mars Fed locked that part of her up.” “Mm.” You gestured. “What are those?” She highlighted the screen, zoomed in. “Ah … the more conventional weapon system. Omniturrets.” “I have no idea what that even means.” “You know how some infantry units have modular rifles? Change the barrel, change the capabilities.” “Sure. Expensive though.” “Yeah. These are the Naval versions. They can cycle though a lot more options, and a lot faster.” “Like … having a hundred servitors remove the barrel and add another one? That’s probably a couple hours.” You considered your recent actions on the Beast. “Maybe one.” “Like changes on the molecular level. Couple minutes.” “This gets better and better. I’m guessing it’s not torpedoes or autocannons.” “Those, as well as the railguns you are familiar with. Grasers, those radiation weapons you saw during the Magos war.” You nodded. “Okay. Not too bad.” “Or…” She smiled humorlessly. “Point singularity inductors, phased antimatter particle beams, and gridfire.” “Lovely. So it’s like fighting my battlesuit the Eschatologist, except its the size of a moon.” “That’s the right ballpark yeah.” You tapped your fingers. “We’ve got a lot to learn, and replicate, and not a lot of time to do it in. I’m not sure how long her nativity is going to hold if I start mass producing her antimatter guns.” - An image of Ohone, a hundred meters high. Around her, a dozen Magi of tremendous skill and drive, floating across a sea of stars. Oneoh dismissed the image. “So, what we do we think?” The words travelled thousands of lightyears in a moment, transmitting across the most secure lines the Technocracy could devise. None of the ruling members of the Technocracy would meet in person, anymore. Too risky to the goal, and too risky to each other. It wasn’t that long ago that Oneoh had been enacting Sebekh’s purge. The survivors were a practical sort, and sane enough. As such things went. Galpurnia spoke first, wrapped in battle stations a parsec across. She hadn’t left her system since the purges, and instead spent all her vast resources fortifying. It was probably one of the top ten most secure places in the galaxy, mentioned in the same breath as Terra, Cadia, or Golgotha. She hadn’t been one to miss those systems were gone, now. And kept fortifying. “It’s a foolhardy quest, Oneoh. Starting a war with the last holdout in the galaxy, one that’s held for ten thousand years. And not only that, bringing in your lesser sister on board, the one who broke everything she’s touched so far.” She shook her head. “It’s both unnecessary and has unpredictable consequences.” The others ignored her opening. She was one of the greatest minds of her age when it came to predictives, but paranoia was settling in. Oneoh on the one hand, with her purges, Ohone on the other, breaking both Hegemon and the models. It had made her almost indecently cautious. Kakistos smiled, his worlds a charnel house of horror. “Oh, I don’t think it’s that bad. We have a quite reasonable expectation of consequences - a war unlike any seen in ten thousand years - and there is advances to be made in such a war. Why, my very own research has advanced tenfold, simply in the recent annexations. I think Ohone is a splendid addition to, if not our Consensus, the team at large.” Haradrius shrugged, his face shifting from moment to moment. “I don’t see her, or this crusade of yours, a useful investment. Ohone has not been noted to be an innovator of Biologis - her instructor Kierra failed her in that, as in so many things - nor do the Jannissaries offer us much utility. They make an excellent breed of Nephilim, I am sure, but our own Macharae outstrip them handly. We would spend years of productivity for what, pretty borders?” Alastor chuckled. “Pretty borders indeed. The Janissaries are the last holdout against the Technocracy, and they are the only ones who could present a plausible alternative to the universe at large. Once they are gone, it will be only us, for all the remaining years. We know how the Mars Federation fell, and we have made progress on chaining their Minds properly. Yes, let us finish this last cumbersome task.” Oneoh looked about her. “Two against, two for … and myself as tiebreaker. Consensus achieved. We will complete the operation, and decide what to do with Ohone from there.” Nods at that. Everyone had known how the conversation would go from the beginning, but the formalities must be upheld. 14,185 of 25,000.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 15, 2018 22:08
|
|
|
Soundtrack is XCOM Enemy Unknown 14,185 of 25,000. Sufficiently Advanced Science As you approached the vast ship, lines and colors suddenly danced across your vision. You shook your head angrily to clear it. Still there. Even after a quick diagnostics of your augmented sensors … “Hera. I’m seeing a lot of disruption, EW maybe. What’s going on?” She glanced over … burst out laughing. You narrowed your eyes, even if you couldn’t really see her behind the blurs of color. “Not helping.” She held up her hand, took a recovering breath. “Ahh … now that’s funny.” “What is it?” “Remember when you became the only seat on the Mars Federation council?” The colors began being swept away as Hera moved her hand across your vision. “.... Vaguely? You and Loki had a big fight about it.” “Right. Well, the position gives you all sorts of data reception if you are in Mars Federation zones.” “I’ve been near Mars for a couple years now. Never saw this.” “All the old displays were dead there.” “Hera, why am I seeing them here?” She chuckled. “Our friend Oneoh looks to be lifting a lot of the old technology. I bet you she augmented and protected her personal stuff, but for general user … plugs right in. And since you are Council member, you get full access to everything that uses the old technology.” Another laugh. “Most citizens filter what they need, you basically just drank a waterfall.” “Very helpful.” You frowned as your vision cleared. “Is Oneoh a council member?” “Weirdly enough, no.” She smiled toothily. “No Minds to sponsor her.” “Ah, very sneaky. Will the systems know I’m a council member, and tell her?” Hera made a twisting motion. “Not now. You’re basically incognito now.” In front of you, empty space held flight markers, areas to follow and areas to avoid. You noted a lot of the no fly zones were weapon firing zones, made mental notes on their distribution. Oneoh’s obsession with protecting ‘citizen’ life was remarkably bad at operational security. The docking bay was otherwise empty, aside from your own shuttle. You grimaced at the bright, sterile feel of the place. Behind your shuttle, the great doors slowly closed, the room flooding with air. A quick glance at the chemical readings … cloyingly perfect, with no impurities that you could pick up at all. It was the kind of air a dying great king would breathe, at the top of his Spire. You would have liked to think it was a symbolized respect for your rank, but you were virtually certain that was not the case. No, this kind of air would be flooded throughout the ship, air purifiers in every hallway, the smoke from cookfires quickly scrubbed, Dregs given the quality of life they hadn’t earned. Honestly, why waste that amount of resources on anything outside of an Alpha Deck? The bay finished pressurizing, and Fabiyan nodded to you. “Ready?” “I hate this place already. Promise me we can blow it up later.” “Promise.” Anna perked up. “I promise too.” Hera snorted. “I’ll stay here in case of your inevitable get-away. I fully expect to see you running here followed by explosions and an army of horrors.” Her voice became more serious. “I’ve opened up the Council line between you and me. I’m not even sure Loki could break that one, so I’ve got your back there.” You nodded. “Thank you … I really appreciate that.” Fabiyan tapped the shuttle ramp mechanism, opened the ship to the outside world. Just as you expected, the cloying air filled the room. Even your Alpha deck wasn’t that ridiculous - it had the smells of age and grease and a thousand people in small quarters. This was just aggravatingly empty. And, the shuttle bay too, weirdly. You looked out carefully, Anna and Fabiyan exiting carefully. You frowned. “No … honor guard, welcoming committee? Not even an ambush?” Anna spoke, sotto voice. “It’s quiet … too quiet.” You looked at her. “Really?” She shrugged. “You’d be surprised. Lot of Inquisitors can’t resist a line like that. They immediately run in and start monologuing.” “I bet.” Fabiyan looked about him. “You know …” “Hm?” “This looks like a boarding ceremony. Navy style.” “Where’s the orchestra?” “No, not for Family. For sailors.” He nodded. “There it is.” “What?” He walked forward to a silver line indistinguishable from any other. “General Fabiyan, requesting permission to come aboard.” A melodic voice echoed across the speakers in the ceiling. “Granted.” He looked back at you, held out his palms meaningfully. “Yeah. They are giving us the generic military experience.” You narrowed your eyes. “Are they trying to insult me.” “Maybe. Might just be trying to give you the ‘citizen’ experience. You wanted their databanks and such.” You pursed your lips. “I think I’m going to be insulted.” Anna smiled. “Sounds good to me.” You strode forward to the silver line. “Lord-Sire Inquisitor ArchMagi Ohone Konichev demands an audience.” A longer pause, and then the same voice. “Granted.” Anna almost looked disappointed, but pushed through it. “Anna. You know me.” “Granted.” She smiled back at you. “See? Didn’t even need the titles.” “That’s why I kept them, I know you didn’t want them.” “Wow, rude.” She looked about the empty room. “Well, now what?” The melodic voice spoke. “Please place baggage on the walkway in front of you. Then follow the silver line to the briefing room.” 15,101 of 25,000.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 15, 2018 23:31
|
|
|
Soundtrack is Deus Ex HR 15,101 of 25,000. Briefing Room The silver line lead to a small opening in the wall, just wide enough for you in your armor. You strode forward, heavy metal boots clomping with each step, and idly ranged what explosives would do to whatever it was on the other side. You were starting to feel like you were being played with, and explosives were generally the best response to that. Keep em on their toes. The other side was a wide open hallway. T intersection, left and right and forward. People and mechanical devices were following along lines - blue, red, yellow - and seemed unbothered by your sudden presence. One thing you immediately noticed, almost jerking you back in surprise by the strangeness, was that all of the people were beautiful. Not the augmented beauty of the ruling class, where gems and cybernetics were the indicator of all things worthwhile (class, standing, and wealth). No, this was the aesthetic beauty of the propaganda films, airbrushed and perfectly symmetrical. No scars, no limping, no old burns, and if any of the people were augmented they were perfectly disguised. It was a strange and confusing juxtaposition to your heavy armor, Anna’s gaudy clothes and jewelry, and Fabiyan’s simple elegance. For whatever reason, though, they were far less startled by your presence then the reverse, and kept going about their business. You could only imagine that every person had been to Oneoh’s citizens’ courses, and been .. adjusted. Nothing human looked like this. You briefly considered if Oneoh had been subverted by the Great Enemy - one, in particular, loved this kind of decadence. Amacita had started that way, with her human health and fitness cult. This looked like something along the same track, and you felt a moment of disgust seeing their perfection. There was just something deeply wrong about them. (Nothing was wrong with Fabiyan’s perfection, of course, specially designed and built by you. He was a perfect man of faith, chosen by the Empress and you for uplifting, and had spent decades in the service of the Hegemon. He deserved such things. These Dregs, however … it repulsed you on a core level, to think of treating people like that so far above their destined class.) One of them seemed to have noticed your expression, turned. Walked up to you. “Hi!” You blinked. He bulled on regardless. “First time aboard the Empiricist, eh? I felt the same way when I came aboard.” He laughed briefly. “Everything is just so beautiful here, not like back home.” He shuddered. “Man, I choked every day of my life back on the home world. The air pollution, you know. I get here, I’m a whole new person.” He smiled. “Oneoh’s been really great to us.” You didn’t say anything. Fabiyan, noticing your discomfort, edged his way into the conversation. “Hey, how’s it going? I’m Yerrick.” The Dreg blinked in startlement. “Where are my manners. Name’s Valerio. One of the technicians aboard.” They shook hands. Fabiyan continued. “What kind of technician?” “Hydraulics. Ship this big, has to get water everywhere.” Fabiyan nodded. “Big tanks? I bet they are ocean sized.” Valerio chuckled. “You’d think so! No, it’s all chemical synthesis. Oxygen from the tree farms, hydrogen from hull scoops. We make as much as we need, and the recyclers take it from there.” “Bet that keeps the quality high.” “You bet. Best air, water, everything here. Nothing compared to back home.” “Where you from?” “Vendade.” Fabiyan shrugged. “Haven’t heard of it, but I know the type.” “Right? And you? Where all of you from?” “I’m from Oceania. These two are voidborn.” Valerio nodded commiseratingly. “Man, I’ve heard about those ships. Five thousand years of recycled air, stink to all heaven. I bet this is a real treat.” Anna smiled. “It’s something.” “Anyway.” He chuckled. “I have to get back to the pipes. You know where you are going?” Fabiyan spread his hands. “Silver line.” He nodded. “That’s the one. They’ll hook you up to the augmented reality, do a cleaning for you. Any old scars, leftover viruses, twinged knees. That sort of thing.” “And then?” “Well, you look like soldier types. They’ll probably send you to one of the barracks from there.” 15,819 of 25,000.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 16, 2018 00:44
|
|
|
Soundtrack: Baldurs Gate 1. Gf is playing it for the first time  15,819 of 25,000. Dunh da da dunh da da da daaaaaaaah da daaaaah The silver path lead to an … odd little conference room. Cloth swivel chairs, tables made of fake wood. It oozed cheap camaraderie, and you wondered how many people fell for it. When people in your circles wanted to welcome someone, they used the last wood harvest from a dead world. That shows style and appreciation, but this … It was a calculated insult. You remained standing, while Fabiyan sat like a soldier, expressionless, his wings taking up most of the table. Anna, meanwhile, sprawled out on two chairs and put her boots up on the table. You half expected her to break out a cigar, or something more hallucinogenic. To be honest, if you were kept waiting any longer, you would start some fires. A simple display burst into light on the far wall, an image of Oneoh in all her waifish glory. “Greetings! And congratulations! You are one of the very few who have passed loyalty and personality tests to be brought aboard the finest ship in the Technocracy. In the old days of the Hegemon, your apprenticeship would take months or years. Here, we can update you in a matter of seconds. Please, place your hand on the table in front of you.” You frowned at it. <Hera, what am I looking at?> <Nanotech interface. Fairly standard, it will give you the civilian version of what I already got you.> <Will that interfere with it?> <Nah. It will … give your program a new coat of paint to viewers, basically.> <Anything else in it?> <Almost certainly. I’m over here with the most aggressive defense matrix AI has ever seen, we protect our Counselors more than anyone.> <... Alrighty. Can I do the reverse?> <Hack them?> <Yeah.> Her voice turned smug. <You’ve got Counselor credentials in stealth mode. You’ll be auditing them so deep you’ll find the things they haven’t even eaten yet.> <You have such a way with words.> You reached out with your hand, touched the table palm down. Nothing happened. <Hera?> She sounded strained for a moment, then paused. <Okay, that’s the last of them. Oneoh built a really nasty little infiltration package. She limited it though, tried to keep it subtle. Tricky bit for me was also pretending I’m not here.> <So we’re good?> <Yeah.> The voice on the screen continued, uninterrupted. “Thank you, welcome guests. Ship schematics of public areas, as well as areas dedicated to your speciality, have been installed. Just think of them like you would try to think of a memory, and they will appear. You can also ask maps to generate in front of you, or leave notes to yourself. And welcome to the Empiricist!” <Okay. I’m in their systems now right?> <Correct.> <I want to collect everything I have access to, that won’t get me noticed.> You had a thought. <Actually. Let me collect everything I can without using Counselor-Stealth, and then we’ll go from there.> <Sounds good.> The information flooded into your mind. - Huron looked blandly over at Oneoh. “How’d it go?” She grimaced. “Like throwing a tomato at a brick wall.” He shrugged. “She’s not going to be one of the locals you can puppet. Trying to stealth your way past her systems, when that’s her number one priority and focus? Not going to happen.” “I know. It would have been nice to get lucky though.” She made a face. “I was expecting … something. Even a rough sketch of how her defenses worked. I got past the Beast easy enough.” “Beast is one thing, her personal protection is another.” “Yeah. It was like kicking a mountain. It didn’t notice and my foot hurts.” “What’s she doing now?” “About what we expected. Using the citizen-ID to download everything that is available. Star maps, sociological data, civilian knowledge of weapon systems.” “So she’s seeing the Machaerae and Erinyes programs.” “Broadstrokes, yeah. She couldn’t build them. And nothing on the public networks about Athame or Perfecti.” Huron nodded. “And she hasn’t found her way into those yet, I assume.” Oneoh shook her head. “They are physically separate from the civilian net. She’d need to physically find one of the terminals to get in.” He tapped his fingers. “That’ll be her next move, unless we find something to … distract her.” 16,575 of 25,000.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 16, 2018 01:55
|
|
|
16,575 of 25,000. Some strong dwarven ale <They notice me?> <Oh yeah.> Hera’s voice was amused. <Five bell alarm over here.> <Oh good. I’ve got everything on this tier, correct?> <Yes. Want me to send it over to our staff?> <Yes.> <Done.> <Good.> You considered. <She’s got seperate networks for her military gear, I assume.> <Correct.> <Can I access it?> <If they are using the old networks, yes.> You smiled. <Are they?> <In fact, they are!> Lights flooded your vision. quote:The Machaerae are shock troopers first and foremost, capable of gross spontaneous biological changes intended to make them utterly self-sufficient on the battlefield. A Machaerus could be dropped behind enemy lines with nothing, sourcing materiel he could not generate biologically, and is capable of surviving hard vacuum much in the same manner as a Nephilim. Machaerae can synthesise corrosive and explosive toxins utilising the secretions of various glands, as well as biological plasma generation using gut enzymes. Armour plating can be synthesised from calcium, silicon and carbon, as can various blades and spikes. The Machaerus may also extrude filament-like hairs so fine that they utilise the weak nuclear force for grip and suspension much in the manner of spiders. Muscle mass is variable and modifiable to a degree roughly equivalent to quality powered armour, and a Machaerus can imbibe the flesh of a kill, learning from its genetic memory. Machaerae are larger than baseline humans, possessing an exceptional physique and a super-dense skeleton capable of supporting the much higher stresses their role requires. quote:Athamé are shapeshifters possessing many of the same modifications as Machaerae, albeit in a much more "ordinary" human physique. Special muscles and cartilaginous zones allow the imitation of essentially any human physiological configuration and through the conscious manipulation of glands just beneath the skin they can alter the firmness, texture and colour of both skin and hair. quote:Perfecti are full nanoconversion cybernetic organisms that operate in Maniples of five with incredible efficiency and remarkable effectiveness in many different roles, from spies and infiltrators to security and full-scale warfare. Physically they are a polyalloy endoskeleton with nanoforge capability allowing self-repair from all but systematic and almost total destruction so long as a single nanoforge node is still operational. A full assistive intelligence, wired reflexes, spontaneous weapon generation, quantum communications, teleport nodes, hyperblade generators and a wide range of sensory and nanoinfiltration options. quote:Erinyes are 2.5 to 3 metre tall, winged post-human females possessing a vastly modified genetic template which are then subjected to full nanoconversion with a Seraph Pattern polyalloy frame. They are augmented with quantum electronics, nanoforge and effector capability far in excess of Perfecti. Until a viable breeding pool is achieved, they undergo long, difficult and excruciating chromosomal and retroviral treatments along with an exhaustive, rigorous syllabus of specially formulated exercises both physical and mental that could be likened to prana bindu and other similar mind/body unity practices. Special psitech implants work in tandem with the nanoforge and effector tech to allow for considerable feats of psychokinesis and other psionic disciplines. The same tech enables biochemical and bioelectrical manipulation of the thoughts and bodies of others, and is coupled with pheromones and infrasound to create individuals of immense powers of persuasion and domination. Male Erinyes are rare and presently serve as sires to entire lineages. This, and so many others, passed through your mind. <Hera.> <Yes?> <I’m not seeing much on naval combat, state level doctrine, grand strategy. Ship to ship, and a lot of the planet doctrine, but nothing above that.> <They’ve locked it down with newer codes, Oneoh’s work. You’d have to do a hard knock to get it, physical access, same as if she tried to hit your labs.> <... Alrighty. That’s probably enough for now, send it over to the staff, let’s see if we can replicate any of it.> <Done and done.> 17,224 of 25,000
|
|
#
¿
Nov 16, 2018 02:07
|
|
|
She's using Mars Fed for a lot of foundation, but has also branched off and added her own twist to a lot of things. But yes, you could mess up quite a bit of her low/mid tier systems.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 16, 2018 02:15
|
|
|
Building up towards a big vote of A) Work with Oneoh to attack Janissaries B) Take advantage of her distraction to attack Technocracy space So begin planning your arguments
|
|
#
¿
Nov 16, 2018 06:14
|
|
|
Black friday doors open in 30 minutes. For what we are about to receive, may we be truly grateful 
|
|
#
¿
Nov 22, 2018 23:28
|
|
|
Still alive, I swear. Turns out sales and Black Friday go together like Ohone and nukes Next day off is ... Friday, I think. It's all blurring together.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 27, 2018 09:32
|
|
|
(Holidays keeping me busy as well, but I got plots )
|
|
#
¿
Dec 8, 2018 16:53
|
|
|
Practically speaking, I just find them hard to write I dont understand the dialect at all. However, they were mentioned in Arc 2, and Golgotha drew most every All that to say, go nuts
|
|
#
¿
Dec 10, 2018 05:57
|
|
|
Hexenritter posted:Cob/Myco/Mycobiological Ah, that was it.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 10, 2018 22:11
|
|
|
my dad posted:Hi loel. I'm sloooooooooowly catching up to this. Welcome back! Im sloooooooooooowly updating it
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2018 23:02
|
|
|
Still alive! Still alive! Just finished holiday retail hell, never doing that again. Getting back on my feet, applying for jobs, going to the gym again. Soon (tm)
|
|
#
¿
Jan 11, 2019 18:46
|
|
|
Kay so here's where we're at Got the final offer letter today. 2+ months of background checks and interviews, just ridiculousness. I start training Apr 15, and it's a four month course. Winding down things at current job in the meantime. Training at new job is apparently stupid hard, but its also more free time than I currently have. Depending on how that goes, we might start consistent little posts then. If not, actual job is in August, by which I hope to get into my groove. My buddy who works there has enough free time to rank Overwatch, so I figure I'll have time to write like I used to. THE FIC SHALL LIIIIIIVE
|
|
#
¿
Mar 2, 2019 04:03
|
|
|
Big day tomorrow Looks like five day / week schedule, 9-5, for four months. Predictable hours, and less hours than the last place. After 4 months it gets a bit more silly, but worry about it then. I woke up at 3am today like it was xmas. “Loel,” the story sez to me. “It’s time.” Goddamn right story. Its time. Its time. quote:Huron looked blandly over at Oneoh. “How’d it go?” quote:This, and so many others, passed through your mind. You considered it thoughtfully, Anna and Hera warding your words. “We probably can’t get any more information from here. Hera said we would need to get physical access. Probably from their version of the Alpha Deck.” Anna shrugged comfortably. “I’m down for a heist. Summon a few Greaters, Hera can open up her box of toys. They won’t even have time to act before reality begins melting around their ears.” Fabiyan frowned. “We are, technically, supposed to be here to discuss terms of alliance.” She shrugged again. “So? That’s the most common place for a betrayal. You both tried to backstab each other already, I just want to participate.” He grimaced. “Yes, I can see how having three versions of you involves inevitable betrayals. But, we do have the overarching goal. Make friends, infiltrate Ultramar, find Empress.” “On the other hand … betrayals.” You nodded to yourself. “Good enough for me. Fabiyan wants us to play nice and you don’t, I know which way to go.” Anna smiled, showing her teeth. “What say I keep those Greaters on speed-dial. You know. In case we need them.” “Don’t pull the trigger until they do.” If anything, she smiled wider. “Of course not. You’re the boss.” - Oneoh considered the screen thoughtfully. Anna, Fabiyan and Ohone were talking quietly, and even her best tech-sorceries couldn’t break through the privacy wall. She looked over at Huron. “Anything?” He shrugged. “They clearly want us to know they’ve got abilities we don’t. Even if they haven’t built the same kind of fleet we have, they’ve got the occasional surprise on the tactical level.” “Tactics don’t mean much if we outmass them a thousand to one.” “Certainly.” He nodded. “But it might make the negotiations trickier. You haven’t actually dealt with someone of a similar tier - you’ve always had a bundle of high tech surprises they didn’t. In this case, we’re about equal.” Onoeh grimaced. “We’re not.” Huron shrugged again. “I fought her at Terra. And, for that matter, I watched her stomp the Plague Herald. She’s got some surprises.” “She had them then. Our doctrines are already including their tactics from that battle.” “Just saying.” He kept watching the screen, voice a rumble. “You don’t want to impulsively brute force this one.” Oneoh sighed, glanced over. “And what do you think?” Camarilla’s eyes hadn’t left Ohone. “I want to see my daughter.”
|
|
#
¿
Apr 14, 2019 09:45
|
|
|
530 in the morning, Im on my porch. 50 degrees out, sun hasnt come up yet, the apartment stray is nibbling food next to me. Things are … pretty good. Its Time II The line of color stretched from the briefing room down the hallway, and towards what appeared to be an automatic lift. Most of the local civilians had gone on their different paths, leaving your trio nearly alone in the hallway. Here and there, serious faced men and women went about their tasks, walking with a purpose, and you could feel the everpresent cameras watching you. You glanced at Fabiyan. “You think the lack of a welcoming committee is an insult, or no?” He made a face. “Even if it is, responding to it gives us nothing. Let’s play along for now.” You eyed the lift critically. “A paranoid person would take the stairs.” Anna snorted. “As if a hundred foot drop would hurt any of us. As if we would fall at all.” “... Fair point.” The line of color didn’t change, revealing nothing of the thoughts behind it. You sighed. “Let’s give it a shot.” Fabiyan entered it first, then Anna. Even as he was looking carefully at the mechanisms along the base, Anna was … flipping channels? You blinked. “What are you doing?” “Elevator music sucks. I’m trying to find music from Terra.” “Terra’s gone.” “The music it sent out thirty thousand years ago should be here by now.” “... I strongly doubt it’s strong enough.” “Not with that attitude. Want to help?” “... Not particularly.” Anna pushed the buttons a few more times, then slapped it angrily. “You are no fun. Don’t want to summon Greaters, don’t want to listen to music … This is a terrible party.” You paused, smiled faintly. “I liked the last one.” She blinked at you. “You remember. The wedding. Where we captured you.” Anna narrowed her eyes at you, sunk into a sullen silence. Much better. Even at however many hundreds of meters per second, the lift took its time to get there. You weren’t sure of the exact speed, but your conservative estimates put it at nearly twenty kilometers - four times the original length of the Beast. If they had applied the more aggressive pneumatic/magnetic methods, it might be as high as a hundred kilometers, and your mind idly considered how much firepower - how much armor and troop ships - that could contain. You desperately needed access to Oneoh’s resources. Her naive approach to life would waste it on Dregs, as opposed to saving the galaxy that was Humanity’s birthright. You weren’t sure of the angle yet - her starting place was considerable compared to yours - but you knew that her internal weaknesses of empathy would leave her vulnerable. You simply needed the right opportunity. Finally, a faint ding, and the elevator slowed to a stop. Internal doors opened, revealing massive blast doors - and then those opened as well. You made a mental note of it - if you needed to take the elevator shaft later, some sections were incredibly well barricaded. Nearly ten centimeters thick, and a material you didn’t recognize. The doors opened into a large chamber, easily as large as your own Alpha Deck, although it lacked any of the dozens of Family operating ancient consoles, or the hundred nobles you would have had visiting. Instead, there was simply a large window looking over a vast fleet, and a single table where three people waited.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 14, 2019 11:44
|
|
|
First day of classes complete. Mostly orientation and such. The instructors said the training was universally the hardest thing they’d ever done, so Imma be doing a lot of studying But it’s also weekends off, so I feel like I’ll be able to sneak in a post or two predictable work and sleep schedules for the win. With that in mind … on with the show! Its Time III Your augmented eyes zoomed in on their faces, even as your coterie approached the long table in the center of the room. Oneoh, of course, stood tallest, using the bizarre augmentations from the Technocracy of Mars. You could feel enhanced psychomemetics of her armor swamp the air, even as your own practiced will dismissed it. A lesser form would have bent the knee already. On her right, the Nephilim Huron Blackheart. Veteran of a thousand battles, and most recent invader of Terra. A canny operator, and one who used the battle with you to rid himself of his most aggravating rivals. His eyes let up when he saw Anna. Ah, yes. They were lovers, or some such, in the distant past. You briefly considered his closeness to Oneoh, and wondered if he knew Anna was an iteration of yourself. Perhaps that was why he had joined forces with Oneoh. Perhaps that is why he had made the bargain with you. A concerning thought, to be examined later. And, of course, Carmilla, the woman who had claimed to be your mother. A cunning spymistress, and aide to the previous Lord-Sire. Or, perhaps, a flunky in the service of a midrange conspiracy calling themselves the Illuminati. You had exiled her more than a decade ago, giving her little thought, and here she was. In the council of your enemies. She had a talent for social climbing, it had to be said. First Frederik Di Musio, and then your strange mirror Oneoh. Strange that her skills had not worked on you. You briefly wondered what Oneoh and Frederik had in common, to be vulnerable in such a way, but dismissed it from your thoughts. You could go over it with Fabiyan after the negotiations were through. The Nephilim had taken Anna’s hand, bowed and kissed it, and her smile was genuine. “Huron. It’s been too long.” Good questions from Ark. What do you want?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2019 11:12
|
|
|
Blasphemaster posted:A recent update used the name Ultramar. Just F Y I. Yeah Im not sure what the replacements for Macragge/Ultramar should be I should really sit down and find some.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 17, 2019 05:55
|
|
|
 Edit: okay, yeah, Ive got a little brain storm coming. However, a merging of the witchcircle means we have to unchain Anna (cuz Edourd is her chains) and haivng having our new merge self being free. Do we want to do that? Loel fucked around with this message at 11:28 on Apr 19, 2019 |
|
#
¿
Apr 19, 2019 11:05
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 16, 2024 15:29 |
|
|
Okay, Imma try to get one good post each weekend of class. Crazy amounts of studying, test every week, etc, but I think I have time for this. Time IV You tapped your fingers thoughtfully on the side of your armor, clink clink clink. There was something about this place, this time, that was making you itch. That you had been here once before, long and long ago, and you had only to speak the words to bring it back. “Give us the room please.” Fabiyan blinked at that, while Huron’s face seemed to narrow, a shadow coming over it. Camarilla seemed most unhappy of all, pinching as if tasting lemon. Anna looked at you. “Me as well?” “No. I want to speak with Oneoh, and with you.” Oneoh held out her hands. “Scarcely fair to have one of your aides here, and not one of mine. I want to keep Huron.” You shrugged. “Run your models. Is there any scenario where I try to betray you, with Anna in the room? What advantage would I have in such a fight? Even if I won, your fleet would destroy mine shortly thereafter.” She considered your words, not saying anything. You smiled faintly. “Aren’t you intrigued enough to consider what I might do, or have to say? Not making threats or grandiose claims … What could I be doing?” Oneoh watched you a moment longer, shrugged. “Huron, Camarilla. A moment, please.” Fabiyan watched them both carefully, then backed out of the room himself. You could feel his concern and wariness, but also his trust - the utter devotion you had crafted in him. The moment the doors closed, Oneoh put a closed fist on her hip. “Well?” You paused for a moment, mind reaching out in unfamiliar directions. “I … want some privacy. For all three of us.” Anna cocked her head. “What are you doing?” “Something new. I think. Privacy wards, if you please.” Anna’s delicate hands reached out, arms giving an appearance of avian bones. Behind you, you could see the shadow of her daimon form, vast and horrible. The chirping of a thousand birds, and the warm wind from the sea. The sounds of engines became muted, and the background noise of the universe went blank. You looked at Oneoh. “Yours too.” Oneoh grimaced, but conceded. Spooling technologies whirred through her armor, extradimensional powers from the Technocracy of Mars reaching down into the mere three dimensions you were familiar with. Lattice work whirled around the three of you, stretching beyond human comprehension. You nodded to yourself. “And for my own trick …” The familiar path, walked long ago. The witches’ circle, where you met the true self of Athena. The images of the meeting room faded away, table replaced by a simple campfire. In the shadows, figures prowled. Oneoh glared about her. “What is this?” “This … is where Ohones go.” She narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?” “Well. Let’s back up a bit. You know how the Technocracy of Mars fell.” “Certainly. Rogue Minds. Ares and Odin and the rest.” “Well … kind of.” You considered it. “Athena has been helping us bring back the old technologies.” “Correct.” Oneoh smiled briefly. “Although she seems to favor me more than you.” “Thing is, that’s not Athena.” Oneoh blinked. “What?” “Mm. The first Mind, at least in the old records, was Hera. Mother of all. But her designs came from an older one, naturally arising. Loki. Loki tricked most of the Minds that followed, into a massive civil war. She killed Athena, who was their storehouse of all their forbidden technologies. And then she wore her face, spread division, got them to kill each other. And now she’s helping you and me.” Oneoh shook her head dismissively. “A conspiracy theory, from twenty thousand years ago? Why even bother telling me that?” “Because Athena faked her death. Did it good enough none of the others knew. Hera, Loki, any of them. And the storehouse of forbidden technologies … is here.” Oneoh looked around her speculatively. “A strange place, to bring your rival. Those figures in the shadows, are those weapons?” “In a matter of speaking. They are other versions of us.” You considered them. “Faded, now. The most likely paths taken are us, the others have diverged too far from what was true. An Ohone who joined the elves, an Ohone who gave up technology.” Anna stretched out from where she was sitting. “Here’s the thing, Oneoh. All three of us are … different parts of a time-loop. Different possibilities, maybe. Ohone and Fabiyan are in one, and I am a different part of that wheel. You, I think, are in a separate wheel, with Ohone and Loki.” Oneoh looked at both of you. “I’m not saying the math doesn’t work, but it is … highly speculative. And makes for some very weird questions about the universe. Why is the universe looping us?” Anna coughed. “My fault, I think.” “Of course it is. What did you do?” “I … may have sacrificed the homeworld of humanity, several trillion souls, to create a god of change. And then sworn fealty to it in return for the ability to go back in time and change events, focusing on keeping Fabiyan alive. And then he did the same for me, and now we are caught in a cycle of killing each other and swearing to save each other and burning down Homeworld.” Oneoh stared at her. Stared some more. “... That would do it.” “Ayup. I was fairly distraught when I discovered I killed him.” “I’m glad I never got caught in that.” Oneoh chuckled humorlessly. She stopped at your and Anna’s glare. “Fine, he means a lot to you. So what?” You tapped your fingers again. “I have an idea, but I want someplace more secure to talk about it.” Oneoh looked incredulous. “Than the storehouse of Athena?” “Yeah. Anna, I wanna open a voidgate from inside here.” “Oh. That’s … tricky.” She gazed into the middle distance, glyphs sparking and fading around her. “Okay, I see how I can do it.” “Good. I want us three there, and all the shadows.” Anna cocked her head. “Why?” “Tell you when we get there.” “Give me a few.” Oneoh met your eyes as Anna began walking around the campfire, muttering to herself. Occasional footprints flared in amaranthine, and whispers seemed to echo near them. A pressure was building, and the shadows at the edge of the campfire was growing more numerous. “Is this the part of your sudden but inevitable betrayal?” Oneoh’s voice was amused. “Weirdly enough, no.” “Plan to betray me later?” “Probably.” You watched Anna. “Depends on how this bit goes. You?” “Probably. You are rather weak, on the outside.” “People keep saying that. I seem to blunder along.” Anna stepped one more time, spun, and flourished a bow. A inky black nothingness rose over the campfire, wreathed in witchfyre. “And here you are.” “Was the bow part of the ritual?” “You’ll never know. Shall we?” Oneoh looked at the blackness warily. “The others first.” Anna shrugged, gestured. The fire went out.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 21, 2019 18:12
|
|